Lovely Introduction

After Harry, Ron, and Hermione had headed back to Hogwarts, Fred and George started their first year of a public joke shop. They had sold nearly 5,000 items in their first month of business, nearly breaking the record of their competition yet dearly respected Zonko's joke shop in Hogsmeade.

After a busy day in mid October, Fred and George were closing up shop, and preparing to get a good night's sleep before the weekend. "Oi, I never expected all this so quickly," George mumbled while snacking on an acid pop. He was busy dusting the demo tables with a feather duster.

"What are you using that thing for," Fred asked him, "Did Dad give it to you?"

"He told me that it is fun to use, and that of course it's a muggle product," George answered.

"Well, what's it called," Fred asked.

"Dad said it's called a 'feather dooster', so I suppose it 'does' it for you, but he showed me to wipe at the dust with it," George replied. Fred shrugged and quickly using his wand charmed the tables so they were instantly clean.

"Now what did you have to do that for," said George loudly, "I was having a bit of fun using this," and as he shook the duster, bits of dirt went flying everywhere. After a few sneezes between the two of them, and the shop was cleaned up enough, they headed upstairs to where their flat was located.

"Now George," Fred whispered, "if we could make a joke product out of that feather dooster, do you think anyone would buy it?"

"I don't know what would be so funny about it," answered George.

"Well I remember a bit of dust flying off everywhere when you shook it, yeah? Maybe it could go straight into their face or something. We could charm it to move about by itself, and then when you want it to stop, (you'd have to hex it of course), and the bloody thing would shake itself all over the place."

"I don't reckon that's a very good idea, Fred. I'm going to sleep before I hear any other of your not-so-brilliant ideas," George said, putting his head on his pillow.

"I don't know George, it feels like I've lost my touch of inventing, and we've just started this big business," said Fred as he drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, there wasn't very much business at all. Fred and George were sitting around most of the day, waiting. Fred was writing ideas down on parchment, trying to get his ability to invent creatively again; George was staring at the door, barely blinking. Then the bell rang and a glow seemed to fill the room.

A beautiful young woman about George and Fred's age stepped in. She had shimmering red hair, with a touch of gold. It was slightly curly, and the length down to her shoulder blades of her back. Her eyes were a soft grey and her lips had a touch of carnation pink. There was rose in her cheeks, and her smile of greeting would have attracted any man.

She was wearing a full-length pale yellow skirt with a laced white blouse. Fred caught himself staring, and George cleared his throat. "Welcome, dear lady! Welcome to 'Weasley's Wizard Wheezes', a Wondrous Utopia . . ."

"You don't happen to have any veela in you, do you," said a dazed Fred. The young woman blushed just slightly and spoke very soft, almost with an enchanted voice, "No, not at all. My name is Candice. Candice O'Leary."

"You're from Ireland!" Fred jumped. George glared at Fred in a disrespectful manner. "You are indeed the most beautiful person to have entered this shop since we opened it," Fred finished.

"Why thank you very much, young sir. I am Irish as you can hear and see, but I do not hope to think myself as beautiful as you say," she spoke.

"I'm sorry about him," said George, pushing Fred aside, "I am George Weasley, and that is my twin brother Fred. He was right about your beauty, I admit."

"You are both so friendly," she said in a short giggle. Then she began to look around the shop. "This is all very fascinating! I haven't been to many shops that specialize in tricks and sorts. I suppose if you enjoy it for a living, which is what's important."

"Aye, Candice, it is. We have been doing this sort of thing for years. Unfortunately we haven't been able to bring up very good new ideas," George stated.

"Would you like something to drink? Have a seat too if you like, and we could demonstrate some of our products for you," Fred cooed. George raised an eyebrow at him.

"Thank you again," Candice said as she took a seat at one of the tables, "How many tricks and things do you have here?"

"Around 30 items so far, and I know that doesn't seem like much, but we've done well for our first month or so," Fred added, pulling a small box out of a glass cabinet and placing it in front of Candice. Her eyes lit up.

"Should I be interested or worried about what is in there," she asked in a sarcastic tone. George smiled and folded his hands together. "These are just Canary Creams, one of our first products. You simply pop one in your mouth like this . . ."

As soon as the Cream hit his tongue, George took the shape of a large vibrant yellow canary. Candice nearly jumped out of her seat in surprise, and burst into laughter. She was holding her stomach by the time George turned back into his normal self. "See, no difference for that one's looks," Fred mocked.

"Ha ha. You get to demonstrate the next one," raged George as he brought out a box of Ton-Tongue Toffees. "Here, enjoy!"

Fred was reluctant to eat the toffee, but he did after some persuasion by Candice and George. His tongue was nearly 12 feet long by the time it stopped growing. He was worried by the look on Candice's face of disgust, and after a short while got his tongue back to normal.

"This was actually very funny once when a muggle got one. It took his tongue ages to return to normal," Fred told her.

"Well," said George before Candice could say anything, "Of course we don't go around playing pranks on muggles all the time, do we Fred?" he said as he elbowed his brother.

"No, we don't, because we live in a wizard community," Fred said sharply. Candice grinned and started to talk about her family history. George and Fred were a bit surprised and eager to listen to her words. She had been born in Dundalk, Ireland, where she still lived. She had come over to London to visit a cousin, and to see Diagon Alley up close.

She hadn't gone to Hogwarts, as Fred and George had figured. She had actually attended a smaller Arts of Magic school in Dublin. She showed her wand to Fred and George, which was made of cherry wood and had an ebony handle. As she finished, and Fred and George had told her all about Hogwarts, a few customers started coming in and out.

Candice stayed for hours, even helping them with sales. When they had a break, George would show her other tricks, such as a Headless Hat (in which Fred's entire head and the hat itself went missing, which caused Candice to squeal a little). She was pleased that she had met them, and looked at the clock on the wall.

"Oh goodness," she said standing up in a rush, "I have to meet my cousin! Do you know where Kensington Gardens is?"

"Of course we do, near Hyde Park. Be sure to look for the fountains just a little way from here," George told her.

"It was very great meeting you Candice," said Fred, shaking her hand. George nodded and smiled.

"Thank you both so very much! I had an amazing time. I'll have to bring my cousin here to visit as well," and with a smile, and a kiss on each of their cheeks, she left the shop.

"She deserves a 'customer of the month' award," said Fred out of nowhere.

"No," George sighed, "she deserves 'customer of the millennium'."