Draco paused in front of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, narrowing his eyes at the assortment of wares displayed upon the red tablecloth behind the window. Being well acquainted with the twins' ingenuity, he shuddered at the boxes which held Boxing Telescopes, Anti-Gravity Hats, and Thestral Thrashers.
His attention was drawn to a nearly empty corner of the display. Draco crouched to gaze at the neat square glasses, each one etched with sundry snowflakes and holding a lit candle nestled in aromatic herbs, to judge from the sweet scent wafting through. His nostrils flared as he greedily inhaled the aroma which reminded him of pleasant days in his childhood, when Narcissa would put a sachet holding chamomile, hops, valerian, and lavender inside his trunk.
Each of the four glasses was etched with a letter of the alphabet which together spelled 'Noel'. Draco snorted at that, doubting that the irrepressible twins would follow the peaceful Christmas spirit. Nevertheless, he needed their advice, so this cold December morning he had to brave the lions' den.
Draco stood up and squared his shoulders as he made his way inside. The gaudy boxes of magical mischief sitting jauntily in neat rows upon the shelves looked almost innocent; this early in the morning, there were hardly any wizards and witches poking and jostling each other as they perused the labels.
One of the twins waved at Draco. "Oi, Malfoy! What brings a git like you here?"
"I need advice, Fred," he said curtly, scowling at the twin.
Fred stuck his hands in the pockets of his striped trousers and sauntered towards him, his lanky frame reaching to the upper shelves. "What have you done this time, old boy?"
"Nothing," muttered Draco.
He leered knowingly at Draco. "You want to catch Zacharias' eye, do you?"
"By Merlin's wet beard, no!" Draco huffed.
"Wonder who's the lucky bloke that caught the fancy of the Slytherin Prince, sunk as he is in the lowly morass of his despondency in the trying days of…"
"Cut it out, Fred!" growled Draco. "And for your information, it's Potter!"
"Oh, I didn't expect that at all, old chap." Fred rubbed his hands gleefully. "Can't wait to see all the hexes and curses flying around when you two have a lover's tiff. It's going to be bloody gorgeous!"
"That's not going to happen!" Draco said, raising his arms in exasperation. "Don't know why I bothered to come here!"
"Do tell why you visited us, Draco," George said from the threshold. Ambling towards them, he fished out from the pockets of his striped jacket a small jar which he lay down on the counter.
"Is that the new prototype, Forge? Did you get the kinks out of it yet?" Fred said, his eyes twinkling with excitement as he glanced at the bottle that held a bright red heart which throbbed on and on, growing in size before shrinking again.
"It's working, though there's a flaw." George conceded with a shrug. "Can't get the potion to work correctly."
"What's it supposed to do?" Draco said, lowering his hand to grab the jar.
George kept him from doing that, though; he closed his fingers around Draco's forearm, squeezing him tight. "Careful, Malfoy; bloody thing is unstable, if you open the stopper it will explode and cover you with gore."
"So it's just another prank," Draco said as he yanked his arm free.
"Actually, old chap," Fred said, looking sharply at Draco. "It's supposed to be all lovey-dovey. When you open the jar? The heart should pop out and float right up to your soul mate."
"We've gotten rid of some nasty side effects," George gazed down at Draco, fingering the lapel of his suit. "Now it won't force anyone into an irreversible mating bond!"
"Told you that was a neat result, Forge," Fred said, glowering at his twin.
"You would think so, silly chap, but what if you open it and the heart decides to irreversibly bond you to Romilda Vane?"
The three wizards shuddered at that.
"The potion we're brewing ought to work!" Fred said, slapping his fist into his open palm. "Just needs some tweaking, is all."
"Good luck with that, Gred. Bloody Slughorn hoarded all the dragon's blood we need." George's lips pursed as he scowled at the jar.
"We could do what we did with the petrificatis potion," Fred said slowly.
Draco's ears pricked up at that. When Ron bantered with his brothers while they all repaired the Burrow, the twins had been tight-lipped about the way they brewed that potion.
"You mean, look up a replacement through Arithmancy?" George said wonderingly. Glancing at Draco from the corner of his eyes, he noticed his uncomprehending look so he hastened to add, "In order to harden certain parts of the body, the potion required basilisk's eyes to simulate the effect of being turned to stone."
"You can imagine they were hard to come by." Fred shrugged. "So we searched an alternative using the results provided by Arithmancy."
Draco puzzled his eyebrows in thought, recalling the conversation between Bellatrix and Rookwood during the Dark Lord's presence in the Manor. His aunt had gloated of her master's knowledge in the intricate details of Arithmancy when he devised the Dark curse that drew his attention to whomever spoke his dreadful name. Hearing that, Draco had crossed his fingers, hoping that Potter abstained from uttering the Dark Lord's name. But of course, the handsome git had to do just that and get captured by the Snatchers, forcing Draco to…
"Oi, Malfoy! Come back to Earth!" said George, nudging his shoulder. "Quit thinking about sweet Zacharias!"
"You're wrong," said Fred with a knowing leer. "Our ickle dragon has fallen for his fellow Seeker!"
"Knew it!" crowed George. "Gred, you owe me five Galleons!"
"Git!" grumbled Fred. "Shouldn't have made that bet."
Draco shook his head and returned to the present. He reclined on the counter and glanced at the twins. "Why don't you get the older Weasley to send you dragon's blood?"
"Charlie wouldn't harm one of his precious dragons for us." Fred said with a scowl.
"Besides, he's still angry at us for the Samhain prank we pulled on him," George said in a low voice. "Resentful git that he is. We'll just have to spend time on the potions lab."
"Maybe consult Hermione; she's good at Arithmancy."
"So am I," said Draco resentfully.
"But you're going to be busy wooing Harry," said Fred, smirking at Draco. "You had better do a good job because Harry spends too much time brooding about serious stuff."
"That's what I wanted to talk about," said Draco, his pale fingers caressing the smooth wood of the counter. "I don't know what Harry would like for Christmas."
"That's easy." George walked around the counter and called over his shoulder, "Something simple that comes from your heart, some kind of romantic gesture."
Fred nodded sagely. "May we interest you in Decoy Detonators? They will come in handy when you fight with Harry."
Draco glared at him. "No, thanks."
It seemed like his journey to the twins' store had been in vain, though Draco couldn't shake the nagging feeling that something had fallen into place.
tbc