I think I've waited long enough to post the next chapter. I have 12 chapters roughed out so far fr this story. I'm not sure if I'll make it longer or not. Next chapter should be out soon.

I made some fanart for this. Check out my brand new LiveJournal. The link is in my profile.


Twilight Moonbeams

Detection

o0o

Malfoy beat him to the shop. He was eager to please. George guessed he'd been turned away from so many jobs he didn't want to screw this one up. He unlocked the door as the blonde hovered by his shoulder.

Pushing the entry open he held it open for Malfoy who skittered in like he was afraid the door would be slammed in his face and he'd be locked out on the other side.

"Well you can see why I need help." George notice how the Slytherin looked at the sparsely stocked shelves. "I'll show you where you'll be working." George indicated for the blonde to follow him. He ascended the stairs to the second story. Turning right he walked over to a curtained off area that had a sign over it that said Employees Only.

Draco entered self-consciously pushing the red suede curtain aside.

Inside the room was centered around a large cauldron; made for making multiple batches for products. There was a large shop cabinet with dozens of drawers with labels that held all the potion ingredients. Off to the side there was a rough wooden work table with quite a few burns in the surface and all different colors of stains.

"Why is there no door?" Draco asked curiously. He figured that any customers could just wonder in. He doubted the Employees Only sign could only do so much.

"It did originally but after all the explosions we found it was a quicker escape if you didn't have to deal with a door." George replied.

"Explosions?" Draco questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"That was during our exploration phase so don't worry, also the curtain allows a lot more ventilation." George shrugged, not seeing any reason to put a door back up. Gesturing to the other side of the room to continued the tour. "Here's the ingredient cabinet. Just tell me if you notice we're running low on anything."

Draco nodded to show he understood.

"You'll be expected to brew certain products on a rotation. I've written out a list of what we need the most so far." George handed over the list to the Slytherin. Walking over to the book shelve he selected a thick tomb and placed it on the burnt work bench. He stared at it for a moment. "This is the book."

"I can see it's a book." Draco exclaimed impatiently when Weasley didn't explain further.

"It holds all the recipes for our products. This is what you will be using for brewing." George explained. Flipping it open to a random page he showed the handwritten pages for the Slytherin to see. "Just follow the recipes like you're in Snape's potion class and it should be fine."

"So you have everything written in one master copy?" Draco asked noticing the hand written pages, Weasley nodded. "I feel like I should hit you for your stupidity."

"Why?" George asked confused by the Slytherin's reaction.

"You're a successful business. If someone wanted to steal your products they would take everything if they got a hand on this." Draco gestured to the book. "Especially since you don't have a door." He gestured to the curtain.

"I get your point." George nodded getting to what the Slytherin was trying to say. He made a note to make a copy of the book. He reached into a cupboard and retrieved something. "Here's your uniform." George held up the magenta robe for the Slytherin to see.

"You have got to be kidding me." Draco spat, letting his true personality show through.

"Nope." George replied with a wide smirk. "All Weasley Wizard Wheeze employees are required to wear this uniform." He threw the robe hitting Malfoy in the face.

Grudgingly Draco slipped the robe on over his clothes. Warm colours were awful against his skin tone. He looked better in dark blacks and cold blues. He shifted uncomfortably.

"Let's get to work." George exclaimed clapping his hands together.

.0.

It took a day or two for Malfoy to loosen up.

At first he didn't say much and just followed orders without any complaints. Showed up at the shop in the morning, did what was required of him and then went back to the Leaky at night. After having to work with George as a potion partner for a couple days it made the Slytherin snap.

"Merlin's balls Weasley, there's only supposed to be 3 peacock feathers in there not 9." Draco berated with a scowl. "Now I'm going to have to figure out a way to counteract it or the whole batch will be garbage." This was the fifth time that Weasley had managed to screw up a potion. He'd succeeded in saving some but most had been thrown out and restarted.

"Sorry, sorry." George apologized sheepishly. He'd read the line underneath by accidently and mixed the two intructions together.

"I can see why there were so many explosions." Draco sneered with frustration as he scanned the ingredient cabinet to find one that was suitable to stable the potion.

He sprinkled some salt to soak up the peacock feathers. The colour returned to the right tone so Draco guessed it worked. The potion needed to sit for 10 minutes before they could add the next ingredient according to the book.

Draco was setting the timer when the cauldron suddenly started to bubble over. George was standing beside it with a guilty expression. "I thought the next ingredient went in now."

"That's it." Draco slammed the knife to the work bench before he was tempted to use it with murderous intent. "You're banished."

"What?" George asked baffled incredulously. "This is my shop."

"You are banished from working on any of the potions. Charm anything you like but stay out of my way. This is now my territory." Draco had been trying to stay on his best behavior but after Weasley had blown up another cauldron he couldn't take it anymore. He got snarky when he was frustrated.

"Don't you need help?" George asked. Brewing took up the large majority of the production of the products. He felt like he was taking advantage of the blonde if he left all that work up to him.

"Not from you." Draco exclaimed on the border of rudeness. "If you ever want to open your shop again you'll leave the brewing up to me." Said bossily.

"Fine." George conceded. "I'll stay on this side of the room." He stood by the burnt out work bench.

Once Malfoy took lead on the brewing everything started to run a lot smoother. He was easily able to understand Fred's notes and even improve on them. It was another couple of days until Malfoy started to reciprocate George's jokes as they worked.

.0.

"Great work this week." George slapped Malfoy on the back. It was the first full week they had managed to work together. He felt like they'd made major progress. "You can have the weekend off." George thought it looked like Malfoy was not happy to hear that.

"Fine." Draco hung up the magenta work robe and switched it for his own cloak threadbare cloak. Draco was almost reluctant to leave. The joke shop had become a haven from the world. "I'll see you on monday."

They both left the work room. George headed up to his apartment and Draco descended to the front door.

Draco sighed as he left the shop. It was already dark out and the weather had grown chilly because fall had descended. He shivered as the cold wind blew straight through his robes. Draco flipped his hood up.

He walked back down through Diagon Alley back to the leaky. The majority of the shops were already closed. The only lights on seemed to come from The Leaky Cauldron. Draco tapped the bricks that allowed him entrance to the tavern.

Pushing open the door he was met by laughing as ministry workers enjoyed their after work drinks. It was always busiest that time of night. He could see a group of aurors' in training in the back. Draco couldn't see Potter from his view point but he was sure he was in the group.

Not feeling like fighting his way through the crowds to order food he decided to head straight up to his room. On the way over he almost walked directly into someone. When he realized it was Potter he was glad he still had his hood up.

"Watch it." Harry snapped balancing the drinks he almost spilled.

Draco nodded his head and scampered up the stairs before the Savior looked closer and realized who he was.

Unlocking the door he had to jiggle the handle and bang his shoulder into the door to get it to open. It always stuck. As soon as he made his way into his dingy hotel room he shrugged off his robe. He didn't bother to get changed other than removing his shoes.

When he flopped down on the bed in exhaustion the springs squeaked. The room wasn't much but it was a roof over his head. He could hear the noise drift up through the floor from the bar as he tried to fall asleep.

When dust started to fall from the ceiling from the movement of other guests Draco groaned and held the pillow over his face. 'At least someone was getting some' he thought bitterly. Somehow he managed to drift off to sleep even with the rocking coming from above.

.0.

George was restocking their edible section. They had made great progress with brewing up new batches. The store was looking less ransacked by the day.

Draco had decided to take a break. He ended up wondering out into the shop and spotted his boss on a ladder. He walked over and looked at the assortment of products. Between the Edible Dark Marks and Sugar Hexes, Draco was afraid to consume any of it.

"You know you might do better business if you actually made some candy that doesn't have adverse repercussions once ingested." Draco suggested after picking up a box of Puking Pastilles. Just the name put him off.

"It's a joke shop though." George replied looking down at the blonde head of hair.

"You can compete with Honey dukes if you make the right products." Draco suggested with eagerness.

"You just want to eat the products." George teased. He'd noticed that the Slytherin had a mean sweet tooth. The blonde shrugged not denying his accusation. "How?" George leaned back against the shelf with interest, balancing himself on the ladder.

"Well think about chocolate frogs for example. You can make a similar product of a different magic animal that comes with a card, of some of the worse wizards in history so it's the opposite of the original product." Draco suggested with enthusiasm. "That way you start a new cards for children to collect making them come back for more. Again and again."

"That is…" George blinked at the Slytherin in amazement. He slid down the ladder to the floor and leaned against it. "A brilliant amazing idea! How did you come up with that on the spot?"

"Slytherin cunning." Draco replied with a smug smirk. "Truthfully, I was taught how to do business by my father. Since I was little I've been groomed to think about what would make the most money."

"The Malfoy fortune didn't come from evil deeds but a good business sense." George exclaimed with a disappointed tone.

"Generations of it." Draco nodded. "I'm not saying there was wasn't any underhandedness on the way but generally Malfoy's just know how to make money." He leaned against the shelves.

"I'll get to writing ideas down straight away." George exclaimed. He hadn't been this excited about a product since before the war. He walked to his office with ideas swimming in his head. 'This might actually work.' George thought to himself. He hadn't just hired himself an amazing potion master but a new business partner.

o0o

George noticed that Malfoy was very skinny over the next week. He doubted he was eating properly. When he went to grab lunch he picked up another sandwich. Offering the food to the other boy he noticed how he licked his lips in anticipation.

Malfoy tried to hide how ravished he was as he ate the sandwich.

"Have you not been eating?" George asked. He forced the other half of his sandwich on the boy and Malfoy reluctantly accepted since he was so hungry.

"Most of my money's going to pay for my room at the Leaky right now." Draco admitted embarrassedly. Having a roof over his head was more important than decent food right now.

The money his mother had left him with had been depleting faster than he thought it would. He hadn't gotten paid for his work at the shop yet. He'd never have to worry about how he spent his money before now. He used to just expect food to be on the table when he wanted no question.

"You can stay here." George gestured to the apartment they were sitting in. Over the short time they had been working together he had grown to almost like Malfoy. It disturbed him to hear that he had been practically starving himself.

"I can't. Don't you live here?" Draco inquired at his boss's generous offer.

"Not since the war. It's been empty for a long time now." George replied.

"Why?" Draco asked curiously. It was a really nice apartment in his opinion.

"I can't stand to live here without Fred. It took me a year to even reopen the shop." George had many memories in this apartment and it was too hard to stay here day in and day out.

"You always come from up here though." Draco had noticed he hardly ever used the front door. The only time he'd seen it happen was the first day he came to work for him. After that the red head opened the door from the inside when he arrived for his shift.

"I just use the fire place to floo to an apartment that I share with Lee Jordon." George shrugged explaining why he was always seen exiting and entering the apartment. "Just warning you that is part of the deal that is non-negotiable. I will be using the floo plenty."

"Hey, it's your floo go right ahead." Draco didn't argue even though most people would say it was a breach of their privacy. Living here would provide him with a lot more than The Leaky Cauldron ever would. He didn't mind also because it was George.

Draco had grown to respect and even like a Weasley, gasp.

"We should get back to work." George got up to leave.

"Thank you." Malfoy called after him.

.0.

That very night Draco packed his possessions and checked out of the Leaky Cauldron. He was glad to see the back of the place. When he showed up back at the apartment he only had one small bag.

"That's all you have?" George asked as he poured them some fire whisky.

"Yeah, I didn't want to be weighed down by a lot of objects. I wasn't sure how long it would take me to actually find someplace to settle down." Draco placed his rucksack on the ground beside one of the chairs.

"Is everything in else your vault?" George asked. Malfoy shifted uncomfortably at the question.

"The ministry actually confiscated all our vaults. " Draco admitted with a blush.

"Are they checking them over for dark artifacts or something?" George probed as he poured them some fire whiskey.

Draco shook his head. "War reparations. The ministry claims we have to pay for all the damage we caused. The only thing they let us keep was Malfoy Manor."

"They took every single sickle of the Malfoy fortune?" George asked aghast. Malfoy nodded and took a sip of the fire whisky. "They can't do that. It immoral." George felt offended for his new friend.

"Nothing I can really do about it. If I tried to fight the matter the ministry would most likely just throw me in Azkaban." Draco just shrugged. "I decided to try and get a job instead."

"I'm glad I was the one that ended up hiring you." George clanked his class against Malfoy's.

o0o

George looked at the fully stocked shelves in accomplishment. It took them about a month give or take to get the shop to fully restocked. He was able to fill the owl orders easily now since he could send the products off straight away.

They just had a few more products to make and then the shop front could be opened for business.

The bell over the door rang loudly as someone entered.

"Did you miss me?" A female voice asked dramatically. The blonde young woman held her arms out dramatically and smiled brightly at him.

"Verity it's good to see you again." George greeted. They had hired Verity as a shop assistant when they first opened the shop after leaving Hogwarts. He had owled her to ask if she'd like to work here again.

"I'm so glad you're reopening the shop." Verity commented to George. "You could not believe the odd jobs I've had over the past few years."

Draco wondered out of the work room since it was time for lunch. He stopped when he saw the unfamiliar blonde haired young women standing beside his boss.

"Malfoy come down here." George called, the blonde came down stairs. "This is Verity. She usually runs the till of the shop." He introduced them.

The Slytherin approached the stranger nervously. "Nice to meet you." Draco held out a hand for her to shake.

"Malfoy, isn't that the family…?" Verity inquired looking questionably at her friend.

"Yes but that's his family, not him." George replied giving her an encouraging look.

Draco deflated at the girl's reaction. His last name strikes again. He was just pulling his hand back when it was grasped tightly and shook enthusiastically. "What the hell." She exclaimed then pulled her fellow blonde into a tight hug. "Welcome to the team."

"Verity is very friendly." George explained with a fond tone. The Slytherin had a dazed expression once he was released.

Verity shrugged and smiled brightly at the blonde. "If George likes you that's good enough for me."

"Well I'm Draco and I do the brewing." He introduced himslef.

"You're so cute." Verity pinched Malfoy's check the flounced out of the shop. "I'll see you two at the re-opening."

George laughed at how flummoxed Malfoy looked. He thumped the blonde on his back on his way to his office.

Draco rubbed his cheek.

o0o

Harry trudged down hardened through Diagon Ally. The missions they were given as aurors in training were stupid. Since he was in his second year they were giving him experience outside the classroom. Each day there were split into pairs of two and given a different assignment to complete. A senior auror was supposed to escort them but they usually had something better to do.

It didn't help that the head auror hated him.

Robarts thought he got into the auror program under false pretenses. Without any NEWTS he should have been turned away but the ministry had made an exception for Harry Potter. Even Ron had to go back to Hogwarts to finish his final year out before he was accepted.

He should have denied the offer but Harry felt like he couldn't go back to Hogwarts. Not after the war. Too much had happened for him to spend another year in school. It felt like if Harry did he would be going backwards while he needed to move forward in his life.

Someone as a prank had given a muggle tattoo shop the dark mark as a design. Their assignment had been to take the design down and remove the memory of it from everyone in the shop. The problem was that they had apparently already tattooed the design onto the skin of several muggles. He had to research tattoo removal and then spend the rest of the day running all over London tracking the people down.

He knew he had asked not be treated differently but he had killed Voldemort couldn't they give him something a little more serious.

Spotting Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and decided to pop in for a bit. He knew that George had been doing better recently for some reason. When he came for Sunday brunch at the Burrow he had a new spring in his step.

Pushing open the door a bell rang when he entered. The shop was a lot quitter this time a year with all the children back in school. It was empty at this time of day because classes didn't end for another hour or two.

"George." Harry called and received no answer. 'He must be in the back room working.' He thought to himself. Pushing open the curtain labeled Workers Only that he ignored. Sure enough the cauldron was bubbling away and the room was filled with smoke.

When the steam cleared he saw not a tall red head but a blonde. "Malfoy?" Harry gasped in shock.

Draco's head whipped up from his work. "Potter." He stuttered in surprise. The brunet turned on his heel and stomped out. Draco put a statis charm on the potion and chased after his school rival. "Potter!'

Turning on his heel he stopped to confront the Slytherin. "What are you doing here?" Harry demanded putting his hands on his hips.

"Well, umm… I was… George allowed…" Draco stuttered nervously. He hadn't been expecting to have his day start with a confrontation with Potter. He couldn't get his mouth to cooperate with him. His nerves were getting to him.

The bell above the door jingled as George entered. "I got the ingredients you needed Malfoy!" The red head spoke like his voice was trying to reach the back room. He took off coat and hung it on a rack by the door. Looking up he stopped mid step when he saw the messy raven hair.

"Harry." George said with a smile then he notice the frown on his friends face. Noticing Malfoy's twitching form also in the room he realized the situation. "Oh."

"Oh. Oh, is all you can say?" Harry seethed and crossed his arms. "What the fuck is Malfoy doing here?" He demanded an explanation.

"He works for me?" George shrugged his shoulders. He was hoping it would be a lot further down the line when anyone would find out.

"You hired him?" Harry's eyes widened.

"Yeah, it's no big deal. He needed a job and I needed a potion master." George tried to play down the significance of his gesture. "Malfoy's quit good."

"I don't care how good he is." Harry snapped. "He was a Death Eater. Look he even has his mark on display." Pointing to the blonde. This one wouldn't just come off with an Evancio either.

Draco looked down to see that Potter was right and he flushed. He often had to roll up his sleeves as a safety measure so they wouldn't catch on fire. He quickly rolled them down over his hands. He felt mortified standing there as they fought over him.

"I needed the help and Malfoy had the best credentials for the job." George defended his decision.

"I'm a part owner of this company. Don't you think I should have a say in who works for you." Harry snapped.

George had forgotten about that because it happened so long ago. "Fine I'll buy you out because I'm keeping Malfoy."

"I gave you the start-up money for this shop and you haven't been selling anything for over a year. You can't afford to buy me out right now." Harry pointed out. He knew he shouldn't be lording that over George. He just come out of a brought of depression over the death of his brother.

A silence fell over the room that was stifling. Harry and George were both out of breath and glaring at each other at a standstill.

Draco felt his eyes watering. He wasn't going to stand here crying over something he couldn't fight. He would leave before he was kicked out. "I'll just pack then." Draco claimed quietly but was heard loudly in the silence. He turned and fled upstairs to grab his meager possessions. It had been great working here but it had been too good to be true.

George ran over to the bottom of the stairs. "No Malfoy, Draco!" he corrected himself realizing he had come to think of the other man as a friend. "You're staying, Harry is leaving."

"Malfoy's living here?" Harry asked surprised. "He's rich though."

"Yes he is boarding here. I won't have you kick him out of his job and his home." George snapped. "You don't understand the situation at all. Have you even read the Prophet lately?"

"You know I don't read that crap." Harry huffed and crossed his arms defensively.

"Maybe you should before you jump to conclusions. Can you kindly leave? I have to calm Draco down now." George pointed towards the door.

Harry stomped towards the door and slammed it shut behind him making the bell jingle loudly announcing his exit.

George let out a sigh. He never liked fighting with people. He walked up the stairs to the second level. "Draco?" He called as he knocked on the door lightly. Receiving no answer he pushed the door opened.

He saw a form crumpled by the fire place. Malfoy was lightly crying.

"Don't listen to what Harry said. He was being an idiot." George said to try and comfort him.

"Potter's right though. I was a Death Eater." Draco raised his head from his arms so that George could see his red eyes. "You're being too good to me. I'm scum."

"You aren't scum. You're far from it." George kneeled down beside the blonde. "When I look at you I see a smart young man who knows his way around a cauldron."

"It isn't enough. When everyone sees my last name or even my hair; they immediately think of me as a Death Eater first instead of a person." Draco said letting a few more tears slip from his eyes.

"It's enough for me." George wiped the tears away with his thumbs. "I like you very much which should count for something. Fred and I had a saying. That as long as we had each other the rest of the world doesn't matter."

"I'm nowhere close to a replacement for your brother." Draco shook his head.

George sighed in exasperation. "I'm not saying that's what I'm trying to do with you. It's nice to have someone you can depend on though. We have each other and that's enough."

"Friend?" Malfoy looked up at him with a hopeful look in his eyes.

"Yes, I consider you a friend." George smiled kindly at the blonde.

"Really?" Draco asked with a shy smile and looked down bashfully. "Would it sound pathetic if I think you might be the best friend I've ever had?"

"No, I take it as a compliment." George smirked but he noticed how somber Malfoy still was. "I'm surprised you didn't leave." He commented since Malfoy had plenty of time to do so.

"There's no floo powder." Draco sniffled as he gestured to the empty bowl on the mantle.

"Thank fuck for that." George said with some humor. "I would have had to search for you all over."

"I have nowhere else to go anyway. I would've just ended up back at the Leaky Cauldron any ways." Draco shrugged.

o0o

Harry paced back and forth.

He had floo-ed over to the burrow straight away from the Leaky Cauldron. Ron still lived there since his mother needed some more support after Fred's death.

It wasn't an uncommon occurrence for him to let out some steam from auror training by complaining to his friends. They calmly sat on the couch and waited for him to start ranting to get the stress off his chest.

"Your brother is crazy." Harry growled out continuing to pace back and forth.

"Which one." Ron asked sarcastically. He had so many and he wouldn't call any of them completely sane.

"George." Harry answered. "You know what he did? He hired Malfoy at the joke shop."

Ron started to choke on the pastry, Hermione slapped him on his back. "Did you just say…? Malfoy?" Ron coughed and raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Keep it down!" Mrs. Weasley yelled down the stairs. "Some of us are trying to sleep."

"Come back to bed Molly." They could hear Mr. Weasley's muffled voice yell from the bedroom.

"Sorry Mrs. Weasley." Harry called apologizing.

"Calm down. Here have a cookie." Ron offered a plate for his perusal.

Harry didn't doubt that they were freshly baked. Some people wallowed in self-pity when they lost a child while Mrs. Weasley baked her sorrows away. He grabbed an oatmeal chocolate chip one and took a bite.

"Feel better." Hermione asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah actually I do." Harry felt himself relax as he chewed.

Harry and Ron shared a look of discontent at Malfoy working at Weasley Wizard Wheezes.

Hermione looked between them. "What's Malfoy helping with?"

"Potions" Harry grumbled between bites.

"Makes sense. Potions was the only subject Malfoy always beat me in." Hermione nodded.

"That's really your response?" Harry asked in agitation. Brushing crumbs off his shirt.

"I think he'll be good for the business." Hermione shrugged, not seeing a problem with her reaction. "You should at least give him a chance. Wait until he actually does something before you act."

Their discussion was disturbed when Ginny came through the floo. It looked like she had been at the pub with some friends because she seemed a little tipsy.

"Ginny." Harry said in acknowledgment.

"Harry." Ginny replied back. There was an awkward pause before she flounced up the stairs.

"You two need to get your shit together." Ron warned his friend.

Harry deflated. "I know. My relationship with Ginny isn't what we are talking about right now though." He flopped down on the couch between his two friends. "It's like George feels sorry for Malfoy." Harry contemplated their interaction.

"I think I'll have to see it to believe it." Ron commented.

"George suggested I read the paper and then I might understand better." Harry retold.

Hermione looked uncomfortable. "The Prophet has been writing all sort of things about Malfoy lately. It's impossible to tell if any of it is true though."

"Yeah George brought up a whole bunch of reasons." Harry sighed as he grabbed another cookie.

"The Ministry taking all the Malfoy vaults?" Hermione exclaimed.

"True." Harry aid with his mouth full.

"The one about..."

That one's true too." Harry swallowed and sighed.

"I'll get you some copies." Hermione volunteered patting him on the hand. She stood up and wrote a letter giving it to Pig to deliver.

TBC