A/N: Thanks to wuurm, Mayleesa, Beatrix Gotto, and Krissy for reviewing!
***
Chapter 6
Life after Sirius's visit had a kind of bizarre quality. It was almost normal. The Dursleys actually spoke to him. Dudley let him play with the gifts he had gotten for his last birthday. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia even gave him some new clothes-clothes that fit. Harry was almost overwhelmed and made a mental note to write a thank-you to Sirius. Harry was certain that the Dursleys were only doing this because they were afraid Sirius would turn them into mice and keep them in a cage. Again, this didn't sound like such a bad idea to Harry.
He paid regular visits to Mrs. Figg. Cassandra was staying all summer, so she and Harry became good friends. One Sunday at morning at breakfast, there was a knock at the door. "Answer the door, Dudley," Uncle Vernon muttered. Dudley went with out a word. He came rushing back in on his stubby pig legs.
"You won't believe this!" he said.
"What, love?" asked Aunt Petunia.
"There's a girl outside- and she's asking for Harry!"
"What?" asked Uncle Vernon. He rose from the table and headed for the door with Harry close behind him.
"Can I help you?" Uncle Vernon asked, trying to look intimidating. Harry peered around his uncle's bulk to see Cassandra standing on the doorstep, looking not the slightest bit worried. She smiled up at Uncle Vernon.
"Hello," she said. "I'm Cassandra Figg- Mrs. Figg's niece. Auntie and I are going out today and we wondered if we might take Harry along." Uncle Vernon was speechless for a moment.
"Can I?" asked Harry. Uncle Vernon stroked his mustache.
"I suppose-" he started hesitantly.
"Thanks," Harry said, rushing out the door, not even caring to hear the rest of the sentence.
He was even allowed to have very short conversations on the telephone, which went something like this:
"Hello, Harry."
"Hi, Ron."
"How are the Muggles treating you?"
"Pretty good, actually. Sirius scared them half-witted."
"I thought they already were half-witted."
"Good point. Now they're a quarter-witted."
"Right," Ron laughed. "Say, Fred and George are preparing the grand opening of Weasley Wizard Wheezes."
"When is it?"
"In about a week. Want to come stay over?"
"Sure!"
"Get off the phone!" Uncle Vernon roared.
"Bye, Ron."
"See you soon, Harry."
Uncle Vernon didn't want Harry telling Sirius any more unpleasant tales, so a few days later, he removed the boards from the fireplace and left Harry in the living room to greet the Weasleys alone. At the appointed time, Fred and George Weasley popped out of the fireplace. "Smashing to see you, Harry," Fred said cheerfully.
"Is your cousin around?" George asked hopefully.
"I'm afraid not," Harry laughed.
"What a shame. We have some more products to test," George sighed. Harry laughed.
"Got everything?" Fred asked. "Harry nodded. "Right then, off we go." He grabbed Harry's trunk and called, "The Burrow!" before disappearing in the flames.
"After you," said George.
"The Burrow!" Harry called.
Harry closed his eyes this time and felt the familiar rush of wind. He managed to stumble out of the Weasleys' fireplace without falling on his face. Before Harry could do anything, Mrs. Weasley caught him up in a big hug. "Harry, it's so wonderful to see you! We started to worry when we didn't get any owls," she said. Harry felt a surge of guilt.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Weasley. I was so busy this summer I completely forgot to write. Thank you for your birthday present, by the way."
"Your welcome, dear. I'm so glad you liked it. Why don't you tell us about your summer?"
"Aw, Mum, can't he do it later? I haven't seen him all summer, and you're trying to keep him to yourself," Ron protested. As usual, his freckles seemed to have doubled in number over the summer. Harry noticed that Ron was filling out and wasn't nearly as lanky as before. Mrs. Weasley smiled.
"Alright, go on, you two."
"Hermione's upstairs already," Ron said as they climbed the stairs to his room. Hermione met them as she came out of Ginny's room.
"Hi, Harry!" she said brightly. To Harry's surprise, she hugged him. He hugged her back, grinning from ear to ear.
"How was Rome?" he asked.
"It was amazing!" she exclaimed.
"Yeah, I'll bet you learned so much you could write an entire book for an extra credit assignment!" Ron said with mock cheerfulness. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"You know what, Ron? Why don't you write the book? I'm sure you could use the extra credit!" she said, echoing his tone. Ron looked shocked. Harry grinned. They continued upstairs.
"So tell us about your summer," Ron said to Harry. "Last thing I heard from you, you were left with Mrs. Figg and Sirius had put the fear of god into the Dursleys." Hermione's mouth fell open.
"He did what?" she breathed. Harry began to tell them about his summer. When he got to the parts involving Cassandra, he could feel Hermione glaring at him. He tried to ignore her and continued with his story. Ron and Hermione fell out with laughter at the description of Sirius's encounter with the Dursleys, especially when Harry did a corking impression of Dudley as the human Jell-O mold.
"Oh," Ron gasped, wiping tears from his eyes, "I wish I had been there to see it. It sounds almost as wonderful as Draco Malfoy the Amazing Bouncing Ferret."
"Even better," Harry said a grin.
"What could be even better than Draco Malfoy being turned into the vermin we always knew he was and being smacked repeatedly on the floor?" George asked evilly, entering the room.
"Sirius Black showing up and scaring the Dursleys senseless, that's what," Ron laughed. Fred poked his head through the door.
"Can you tell it at dinner? Bill and Charlie just apparated and I'm sure we all want to hear this," he said.
Fred was right. The thought of those "er-rather unfriendly people Harry lives with," as Mrs. Weasley liked to call them, being terrified and threatened at the point of a wand was quite appealing to the entire family. It was especially appealing to Mrs. Weasley when she found out it was only one good thing in a series of good things happening to him this summer. This of course led to more questions, which ended up with Harry relating for the second time his entire summer. By the time the questioning was over, it was very late. "Oh, dear," Mr. Wealsey said, yawning. "I'm afraid we have to be off rather early- in four hours," He added looking at his watch.
"Is it that late?" Harry asked, surprised.
"No point in going to sleep, now," Bill said good-naturedly. "I say we pack up, go to the Leaky Cauldron and crash for a few hours." No one had any objection to this. In a few hours the entire Weasley family, Hermione, and Harry were fast asleep in their rooms at the Leaky Cauldron.
Harry and Ron woke up around noon the next day. They went downstairs to find Bill and Charlie eating breakfast with Ginny and Hermione. "Morning," greeted Charlie.
"Afternoon, rather," said Ginny.
"Is it?" Ron asked, surprised.
"Where is everybody else?" Harry asked.
"They're down at the store. Fred and George are conducting the last of the interviews, I imagine. Dad is probably unpacking and Mum is probably fussing at him," answered Bill with a grin. "Toast?" he offered. Harry took a piece and sat down.
"Interviews?" he said after awhile.
"Fred and George can't run the store while they're at Hogwarts, so they're conducting interviews with the applicants," Charlie explained.
"Applicants?" Ron said.
"Job applicants to run the store for them," Hermione replied shortly. "Did you both get up on the incredibly dense side of the bed this morning?" Ginny giggled.
"Give us a break, Hermione. Unlike you, not everyone is brilliant first thing in the morning." Ron grumbled. Hermione didn't say anything. What Ron said was not meant as a compliment.
"Can we see the store?" Harry asked. Bill smiled.
"Of, course. Right after breakfast," he said.
Weasley Wizard Wheezes was located right in the middle of Diagon Alley. Already there was a large group of people standing outside the store, whispering curiously. Harry smiled. This looked like a good sign. The store itself was a good size. There was a low counter with a cash register and shelves lined the walls. Behind the counter was a door leading to what Harry guessed was a storeroom. The scene was much as Bill described it. Fred and George were questioning a rather relaxed looking young man. Arthur Weasley was putting things on shelves and Mrs. Weasley was fussing at him. "Arthur don't put those there. You can't see them! Put them over there!" she said. With a resigned smile, Mr. Weasley did as he was instructed. If Harry didn't know better, he would have felt sorry for him.
"Hello, Harry," Percy said. Harry gave a start. He hadn't expected Percy to be here, of all places. Percy had no sense of humor and always disapproved of whatever Fred and George were doing.
"Percy!" Harry gasped. "What are you doing here?" Percy frowned.
"I'm showing my support of Fred and George. They are my family, you know." Harry couldn't help but smile at the sad tone in which Percy uttered those last words.
"No, I meant what are you doing over there?" he lied, pointing the corner where he hoped Percy had come from.
"Oh, right. I was checking the invoices and getting all the paperwork together," Percy said importantly.
"How are you getting on?"
"Rather well, actually."
"Splendid, I think I'll go help your father," Harry replied leaving quickly.
Fred (or maybe it was George) cleared his throat. "Everyone, we have an announcement!" Everyone turned to look at Fred and George and the young man between them. "This is Benjamin Jordan. He's going to run the store while, we're at Hogwarts."
"You look awfully familiar," Mrs. Weasley said. He did. He was black and had long dreadlocks. He looked awfully like-
"Lee," Harry said softly.
"What's that?" asked Mr. Weasley.
"He looks like Lee Jordan," Harry replied. Benjamin smiled.
"So you know my cousin, then?" he asked.
"He's in our house," Ron replied. Benjamin extended his hand.
"It's always nice to meet fellow Gryffindors," he said.
"You were in Gryffindor?" asked Hermione.
"Yes, I graduated a few years back. Gryffindor won the house cup… because of you three," he said.
"What?" said Harry.
"Yes, I remember. You-" he said turning to Ron, "you defeated McGonagall's chess set. Well done." He shook Ron's hand.
"It was nothing," Ron replied, his face turning red with embarrassment.
"And you-Hermione, right? You got past Snape's puzzle. Kudos to that." He shook her hand as well. Hermione blushed.
"Thank you."
"And that must mean you're Harry Potter and I'm a stupid git for not realizing it earlier," Benjamin said shaking Harry's hand.
"It's no big deal, really," Harry insisted.
"Like hell it isn't! But you probably get this kind of thing all the time, so I'll quit making an arse of myself while I'm behind." Harry smiled. Benjamin smiled back. He had a very friendly smile.
"I like him," Hermione said, hours afterward.
"Oh, big surprise there," Ron said.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, please, Hermione. You couldn't quit staring at the guy."
"I was not staring!" Hermione insisted, but her face turned red anyway.
"So what if she was? She had good reason to stare. He was cute. Hell, I was staring," Ginny said. Harry turned and looked at Ginny with amusement. Ron turned several shades of red and looked too stunned to say anything.
"I don't need your help, Ginny. And I wasn't staring."
"Of course not," Ginny said. "And I'm sure you didn't happen to see him bend over in those pants either." Hermione turned crimson. Ginny laughed.
"Shut up, Ginny," Ron insisted.
"But I was only-"
"I liked him," Harry said suddenly, interrupting Ginny. They all looked at him. "Let's not talk about it any more. One more comment from Ginny, and I think Ron will have a heart attack."
It was now five o'clock in the morning and Harry had barely gotten any sleep. He was too worried about the grand opening that was to take place in about five hours to sleep. He really wanted Fred and George to be a hit. The absence of snoring and the constant rustling of sheets told him, he wasn't the only one unable to sleep. "That's it," he said. "I've had enough of this. I'm going to breakfast. Are you coming?"
"You bet," Ron said, turning on the lights.
A few minutes later, they were dressed and on their way downstairs. When they got to the dining room, they gasped. No one else had been able to sleep. Percy sat at a table by the fire scribbling on a roll of parchment and looking grouchy. Mrs. Weasley was reading a magazine in a chair by the fire. Hermione and Ginny were talking. Bill and Charlie were playing a game of chess. Charlie looked up from the chessboard. "Well," he said with a sleepy smile, "look who else is up." All heads slowly turned toward him. A sort of general greeting was uttered and they all went back to their activities.
"Where are Fred and George?" Harry asked softly. Bill smiled.
"Sleeping like babies, both of them," he replied.
"Unbelievable," Ron said, shaking his head.
" Typical. They do whatever they want and let the rest of us worry for them," Ginny said crossly.
"Don't mind her," Bill whispered to Harry," She's just jealous because they're getting more sleep than she is."
They should have taken their cues from Fred and George. Not only was the grand opening of Weasley Wizard Wheezes a success, it was a tremendous success, helped by the fact that it was nearing the start of term and Diagon Alley was swarming with children. Bill, Charlie and Mr. Weasley could barely keep the shelves stocked. Mrs. Weasley and Ron were having a near impossible time keeping things neat. Fred and George had their hands full talking to customers. Harry and Hermione had a hard time keeping up at the cash register. Of, course it didn't help that customers soon realized whom their cashier was. Then he had to autograph receipts and deal out change. Even more customers arrived after lunch, which Harry had previously considered impossible.
By the end of the day, everyone was exhausted. Bill and Charlie sat on the floor, leaning against the shelves they had to refill so many times that day. Mr. Weasley was sitting on an empty wooden crate on the verge of collapse. Mrs. Weasley was leaning on her broom. Harry and Hermione were sitting on the counter, grateful for a rest. Benjamin was in the storeroom, checking their inventory for tomorrow. Ginny was helping Percy, who was elbow-deep in parchment figure out how much of a profit they had made in their first day. "One thousand, three-hundred, seventy-two galleons, fourteen sickles, and twenty-five knuts," Ginny replied.
"What?" Harry asked.
"We made a profit of one thousand, three-hundred, seventy-two galleons, fourteen sickles, and twenty-five knuts," Ginny said. Fred and George scrambled to their feet from their seats by the door.
"You're joking," they said simultaneously.
"We've done the math five times. I assure, you that's correct," Percy said. The store suddenly erupted in cheers. Benjamin came rushing up the stairs from the storeroom.
"I'm guessing we did well," he said grinning.
"That is a tremendous understatement," Hermione said.
"This calls for a celebration!" Ron exclaimed. Harry looked up, and smiled.
"And here comes our dog." The door opened and Sirius entered in animagus from. He pushed in front of him several cases of butterbeer.
"I don't think that's a real dog, but I don't care. If he brings butterbeer, he's all right with me," Benjamin said. Sirius transformed.
"Glad to hear it," he said.
"Benjamin Jordan," he said extending his hand.
"Sirius Black," Sirius said extending his hand. Benjamin looked at Harry and Mr. Weasley for a moment before smiling and shaking Sirius's hand.
"Nice to meet you." He took the butterbeer Sirius offered him. " Thanks. You're a lifesaver."
***
^_^ What did you think?
Luv ya-
Silver
***
Chapter 6
Life after Sirius's visit had a kind of bizarre quality. It was almost normal. The Dursleys actually spoke to him. Dudley let him play with the gifts he had gotten for his last birthday. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia even gave him some new clothes-clothes that fit. Harry was almost overwhelmed and made a mental note to write a thank-you to Sirius. Harry was certain that the Dursleys were only doing this because they were afraid Sirius would turn them into mice and keep them in a cage. Again, this didn't sound like such a bad idea to Harry.
He paid regular visits to Mrs. Figg. Cassandra was staying all summer, so she and Harry became good friends. One Sunday at morning at breakfast, there was a knock at the door. "Answer the door, Dudley," Uncle Vernon muttered. Dudley went with out a word. He came rushing back in on his stubby pig legs.
"You won't believe this!" he said.
"What, love?" asked Aunt Petunia.
"There's a girl outside- and she's asking for Harry!"
"What?" asked Uncle Vernon. He rose from the table and headed for the door with Harry close behind him.
"Can I help you?" Uncle Vernon asked, trying to look intimidating. Harry peered around his uncle's bulk to see Cassandra standing on the doorstep, looking not the slightest bit worried. She smiled up at Uncle Vernon.
"Hello," she said. "I'm Cassandra Figg- Mrs. Figg's niece. Auntie and I are going out today and we wondered if we might take Harry along." Uncle Vernon was speechless for a moment.
"Can I?" asked Harry. Uncle Vernon stroked his mustache.
"I suppose-" he started hesitantly.
"Thanks," Harry said, rushing out the door, not even caring to hear the rest of the sentence.
He was even allowed to have very short conversations on the telephone, which went something like this:
"Hello, Harry."
"Hi, Ron."
"How are the Muggles treating you?"
"Pretty good, actually. Sirius scared them half-witted."
"I thought they already were half-witted."
"Good point. Now they're a quarter-witted."
"Right," Ron laughed. "Say, Fred and George are preparing the grand opening of Weasley Wizard Wheezes."
"When is it?"
"In about a week. Want to come stay over?"
"Sure!"
"Get off the phone!" Uncle Vernon roared.
"Bye, Ron."
"See you soon, Harry."
Uncle Vernon didn't want Harry telling Sirius any more unpleasant tales, so a few days later, he removed the boards from the fireplace and left Harry in the living room to greet the Weasleys alone. At the appointed time, Fred and George Weasley popped out of the fireplace. "Smashing to see you, Harry," Fred said cheerfully.
"Is your cousin around?" George asked hopefully.
"I'm afraid not," Harry laughed.
"What a shame. We have some more products to test," George sighed. Harry laughed.
"Got everything?" Fred asked. "Harry nodded. "Right then, off we go." He grabbed Harry's trunk and called, "The Burrow!" before disappearing in the flames.
"After you," said George.
"The Burrow!" Harry called.
Harry closed his eyes this time and felt the familiar rush of wind. He managed to stumble out of the Weasleys' fireplace without falling on his face. Before Harry could do anything, Mrs. Weasley caught him up in a big hug. "Harry, it's so wonderful to see you! We started to worry when we didn't get any owls," she said. Harry felt a surge of guilt.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Weasley. I was so busy this summer I completely forgot to write. Thank you for your birthday present, by the way."
"Your welcome, dear. I'm so glad you liked it. Why don't you tell us about your summer?"
"Aw, Mum, can't he do it later? I haven't seen him all summer, and you're trying to keep him to yourself," Ron protested. As usual, his freckles seemed to have doubled in number over the summer. Harry noticed that Ron was filling out and wasn't nearly as lanky as before. Mrs. Weasley smiled.
"Alright, go on, you two."
"Hermione's upstairs already," Ron said as they climbed the stairs to his room. Hermione met them as she came out of Ginny's room.
"Hi, Harry!" she said brightly. To Harry's surprise, she hugged him. He hugged her back, grinning from ear to ear.
"How was Rome?" he asked.
"It was amazing!" she exclaimed.
"Yeah, I'll bet you learned so much you could write an entire book for an extra credit assignment!" Ron said with mock cheerfulness. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"You know what, Ron? Why don't you write the book? I'm sure you could use the extra credit!" she said, echoing his tone. Ron looked shocked. Harry grinned. They continued upstairs.
"So tell us about your summer," Ron said to Harry. "Last thing I heard from you, you were left with Mrs. Figg and Sirius had put the fear of god into the Dursleys." Hermione's mouth fell open.
"He did what?" she breathed. Harry began to tell them about his summer. When he got to the parts involving Cassandra, he could feel Hermione glaring at him. He tried to ignore her and continued with his story. Ron and Hermione fell out with laughter at the description of Sirius's encounter with the Dursleys, especially when Harry did a corking impression of Dudley as the human Jell-O mold.
"Oh," Ron gasped, wiping tears from his eyes, "I wish I had been there to see it. It sounds almost as wonderful as Draco Malfoy the Amazing Bouncing Ferret."
"Even better," Harry said a grin.
"What could be even better than Draco Malfoy being turned into the vermin we always knew he was and being smacked repeatedly on the floor?" George asked evilly, entering the room.
"Sirius Black showing up and scaring the Dursleys senseless, that's what," Ron laughed. Fred poked his head through the door.
"Can you tell it at dinner? Bill and Charlie just apparated and I'm sure we all want to hear this," he said.
Fred was right. The thought of those "er-rather unfriendly people Harry lives with," as Mrs. Weasley liked to call them, being terrified and threatened at the point of a wand was quite appealing to the entire family. It was especially appealing to Mrs. Weasley when she found out it was only one good thing in a series of good things happening to him this summer. This of course led to more questions, which ended up with Harry relating for the second time his entire summer. By the time the questioning was over, it was very late. "Oh, dear," Mr. Wealsey said, yawning. "I'm afraid we have to be off rather early- in four hours," He added looking at his watch.
"Is it that late?" Harry asked, surprised.
"No point in going to sleep, now," Bill said good-naturedly. "I say we pack up, go to the Leaky Cauldron and crash for a few hours." No one had any objection to this. In a few hours the entire Weasley family, Hermione, and Harry were fast asleep in their rooms at the Leaky Cauldron.
Harry and Ron woke up around noon the next day. They went downstairs to find Bill and Charlie eating breakfast with Ginny and Hermione. "Morning," greeted Charlie.
"Afternoon, rather," said Ginny.
"Is it?" Ron asked, surprised.
"Where is everybody else?" Harry asked.
"They're down at the store. Fred and George are conducting the last of the interviews, I imagine. Dad is probably unpacking and Mum is probably fussing at him," answered Bill with a grin. "Toast?" he offered. Harry took a piece and sat down.
"Interviews?" he said after awhile.
"Fred and George can't run the store while they're at Hogwarts, so they're conducting interviews with the applicants," Charlie explained.
"Applicants?" Ron said.
"Job applicants to run the store for them," Hermione replied shortly. "Did you both get up on the incredibly dense side of the bed this morning?" Ginny giggled.
"Give us a break, Hermione. Unlike you, not everyone is brilliant first thing in the morning." Ron grumbled. Hermione didn't say anything. What Ron said was not meant as a compliment.
"Can we see the store?" Harry asked. Bill smiled.
"Of, course. Right after breakfast," he said.
Weasley Wizard Wheezes was located right in the middle of Diagon Alley. Already there was a large group of people standing outside the store, whispering curiously. Harry smiled. This looked like a good sign. The store itself was a good size. There was a low counter with a cash register and shelves lined the walls. Behind the counter was a door leading to what Harry guessed was a storeroom. The scene was much as Bill described it. Fred and George were questioning a rather relaxed looking young man. Arthur Weasley was putting things on shelves and Mrs. Weasley was fussing at him. "Arthur don't put those there. You can't see them! Put them over there!" she said. With a resigned smile, Mr. Weasley did as he was instructed. If Harry didn't know better, he would have felt sorry for him.
"Hello, Harry," Percy said. Harry gave a start. He hadn't expected Percy to be here, of all places. Percy had no sense of humor and always disapproved of whatever Fred and George were doing.
"Percy!" Harry gasped. "What are you doing here?" Percy frowned.
"I'm showing my support of Fred and George. They are my family, you know." Harry couldn't help but smile at the sad tone in which Percy uttered those last words.
"No, I meant what are you doing over there?" he lied, pointing the corner where he hoped Percy had come from.
"Oh, right. I was checking the invoices and getting all the paperwork together," Percy said importantly.
"How are you getting on?"
"Rather well, actually."
"Splendid, I think I'll go help your father," Harry replied leaving quickly.
Fred (or maybe it was George) cleared his throat. "Everyone, we have an announcement!" Everyone turned to look at Fred and George and the young man between them. "This is Benjamin Jordan. He's going to run the store while, we're at Hogwarts."
"You look awfully familiar," Mrs. Weasley said. He did. He was black and had long dreadlocks. He looked awfully like-
"Lee," Harry said softly.
"What's that?" asked Mr. Weasley.
"He looks like Lee Jordan," Harry replied. Benjamin smiled.
"So you know my cousin, then?" he asked.
"He's in our house," Ron replied. Benjamin extended his hand.
"It's always nice to meet fellow Gryffindors," he said.
"You were in Gryffindor?" asked Hermione.
"Yes, I graduated a few years back. Gryffindor won the house cup… because of you three," he said.
"What?" said Harry.
"Yes, I remember. You-" he said turning to Ron, "you defeated McGonagall's chess set. Well done." He shook Ron's hand.
"It was nothing," Ron replied, his face turning red with embarrassment.
"And you-Hermione, right? You got past Snape's puzzle. Kudos to that." He shook her hand as well. Hermione blushed.
"Thank you."
"And that must mean you're Harry Potter and I'm a stupid git for not realizing it earlier," Benjamin said shaking Harry's hand.
"It's no big deal, really," Harry insisted.
"Like hell it isn't! But you probably get this kind of thing all the time, so I'll quit making an arse of myself while I'm behind." Harry smiled. Benjamin smiled back. He had a very friendly smile.
"I like him," Hermione said, hours afterward.
"Oh, big surprise there," Ron said.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, please, Hermione. You couldn't quit staring at the guy."
"I was not staring!" Hermione insisted, but her face turned red anyway.
"So what if she was? She had good reason to stare. He was cute. Hell, I was staring," Ginny said. Harry turned and looked at Ginny with amusement. Ron turned several shades of red and looked too stunned to say anything.
"I don't need your help, Ginny. And I wasn't staring."
"Of course not," Ginny said. "And I'm sure you didn't happen to see him bend over in those pants either." Hermione turned crimson. Ginny laughed.
"Shut up, Ginny," Ron insisted.
"But I was only-"
"I liked him," Harry said suddenly, interrupting Ginny. They all looked at him. "Let's not talk about it any more. One more comment from Ginny, and I think Ron will have a heart attack."
It was now five o'clock in the morning and Harry had barely gotten any sleep. He was too worried about the grand opening that was to take place in about five hours to sleep. He really wanted Fred and George to be a hit. The absence of snoring and the constant rustling of sheets told him, he wasn't the only one unable to sleep. "That's it," he said. "I've had enough of this. I'm going to breakfast. Are you coming?"
"You bet," Ron said, turning on the lights.
A few minutes later, they were dressed and on their way downstairs. When they got to the dining room, they gasped. No one else had been able to sleep. Percy sat at a table by the fire scribbling on a roll of parchment and looking grouchy. Mrs. Weasley was reading a magazine in a chair by the fire. Hermione and Ginny were talking. Bill and Charlie were playing a game of chess. Charlie looked up from the chessboard. "Well," he said with a sleepy smile, "look who else is up." All heads slowly turned toward him. A sort of general greeting was uttered and they all went back to their activities.
"Where are Fred and George?" Harry asked softly. Bill smiled.
"Sleeping like babies, both of them," he replied.
"Unbelievable," Ron said, shaking his head.
" Typical. They do whatever they want and let the rest of us worry for them," Ginny said crossly.
"Don't mind her," Bill whispered to Harry," She's just jealous because they're getting more sleep than she is."
They should have taken their cues from Fred and George. Not only was the grand opening of Weasley Wizard Wheezes a success, it was a tremendous success, helped by the fact that it was nearing the start of term and Diagon Alley was swarming with children. Bill, Charlie and Mr. Weasley could barely keep the shelves stocked. Mrs. Weasley and Ron were having a near impossible time keeping things neat. Fred and George had their hands full talking to customers. Harry and Hermione had a hard time keeping up at the cash register. Of, course it didn't help that customers soon realized whom their cashier was. Then he had to autograph receipts and deal out change. Even more customers arrived after lunch, which Harry had previously considered impossible.
By the end of the day, everyone was exhausted. Bill and Charlie sat on the floor, leaning against the shelves they had to refill so many times that day. Mr. Weasley was sitting on an empty wooden crate on the verge of collapse. Mrs. Weasley was leaning on her broom. Harry and Hermione were sitting on the counter, grateful for a rest. Benjamin was in the storeroom, checking their inventory for tomorrow. Ginny was helping Percy, who was elbow-deep in parchment figure out how much of a profit they had made in their first day. "One thousand, three-hundred, seventy-two galleons, fourteen sickles, and twenty-five knuts," Ginny replied.
"What?" Harry asked.
"We made a profit of one thousand, three-hundred, seventy-two galleons, fourteen sickles, and twenty-five knuts," Ginny said. Fred and George scrambled to their feet from their seats by the door.
"You're joking," they said simultaneously.
"We've done the math five times. I assure, you that's correct," Percy said. The store suddenly erupted in cheers. Benjamin came rushing up the stairs from the storeroom.
"I'm guessing we did well," he said grinning.
"That is a tremendous understatement," Hermione said.
"This calls for a celebration!" Ron exclaimed. Harry looked up, and smiled.
"And here comes our dog." The door opened and Sirius entered in animagus from. He pushed in front of him several cases of butterbeer.
"I don't think that's a real dog, but I don't care. If he brings butterbeer, he's all right with me," Benjamin said. Sirius transformed.
"Glad to hear it," he said.
"Benjamin Jordan," he said extending his hand.
"Sirius Black," Sirius said extending his hand. Benjamin looked at Harry and Mr. Weasley for a moment before smiling and shaking Sirius's hand.
"Nice to meet you." He took the butterbeer Sirius offered him. " Thanks. You're a lifesaver."
***
^_^ What did you think?
Luv ya-
Silver