Fatal Attraction
Chapter 4: Wheezes' Joke Shop
"Welcome, welcome, to our humble sanctuary" exclaimed two identical looking red heads as a blonde, a brunette and another redhead appeared at the entrance of suspicious looking shop in Diagon Alley.
"Wheezes' Joke Shop. We call it. Come along now, we'll show you around. Oh, and mind the door, it likes to change it's shape" George Weasley motioned to Ron, Harry and Draco as he entered the door which had assumed the shape of a woman. The blonde, the brunette and the redhead eyed each other skeptically before following, attempting to squeeze through the doorway.
"This is the first level of the whole shop. Contains common pranks and jokes stuffs, and the main counter of course. Up the stairs to the second level, mind you, try not to meddle with the stuffs here, it's more advanced pranks and jokes, and some are quite unfriendly. Finally, the third level, our laboratory and workshop as well as storage room" Fred introduced as he lead the group from on level to the other.
Looking around the laboratory, Harry, Ron and Draco feasted their eyes on things ranging from the usual canary creams to things as horrible as Love Potions. Cringing at the labels on the bottles of love potions, the trio decided never to allow the ladies to enter this level of the shop.
"Well, you guys will start with the simpler stuffs. Brother dear, you have been appointed as frontline warrior, you'd be at the counter. Be honest with the accounts, we have means of checking. As for you two, you'd be helping out in the storage room. We need to get a little organized," Fred said as he pushed open the door bearing the sign "Storage".
Draco and Harry's eyes had nearly popped out of their sockets when they saw the mess. "There's no way anyone can clear this mess and get organized. What did you do when you moved in anyway? Threw everything you had into this room?" Harry exclaimed, earning a silent nod from the blonde and sheepish grins from the twins.
"Well, customers start rushing in at 9 in the morning. Which gives you guys exactly an hour to get ready" George said.
"Wait a minute, what would you two be doing then?" Ron asked eyeing his brothers.
"Oh, we are the brains behind this shop, so it's only natural that we'd be locking ourselves up in the laboratory researching on new stuffs. Just ignore us and the sounds we make" Fred replied.
"Right, let's get to work then Draco, or we'll never be able to finish" Harry said as he turned to face the blonde who gave him serious nod and folded his sleeves up, revealing well-toned arms which nearly caused Harry to drool. Ron on the other hand gave a shrug and headed for the first level.
"Harry, don't..." Draco yelled, but was too late to stop the brunette in time. Harry had accidentally stumbled over a crate of exploding quills, setting off a series of explosions, causing him to give a squeal and jumping around like a girl.
Draco watched the brunette jumping around the crate of exploding quills and couldn't help but burst out laughing. It was only when Harry glared at him, that he realized the distress brunette and muttered a spell to stop the quills from exploding. However, owing to Fred and George's brilliance, attempting to stop the quills from exploding with magic would only cause more explosive reactions. Harry was trapped in the midst of exploding quills and was on the verge of exploding himself too. Draco realized his mistake and immediately did a levitating spell and levitated the brunette in distress out of the mess and next to him.
"This is horrible, I should never have volunteered to work here, knowing how Fred and George can be" Harry grumbled as he wiped the soot off his glasses and face.
"You could have apparated yourself out of the mess, Harry" Draco pointed out matter of factly.
"If you hadn't noticed, Malfoy. I left my wand in the locker assigned to us. You never know when a sudden spark from the wand could ignite something dangerous in this room, considering the reputation of the inventors" Harry shot the blonde murderous look.
"Okay, sorry. Here, take my handkerchief, you've got some soot on your face" Draco handed the brunette a black silk handkerchief with the initials D.M. embroidered with silver thread.
"It's his hanky. It's got his scent on it" Harry thought as he took the handkerchief and carelessly wiped his face. Draco watched as Harry cleaned his face, feeling frustrated that the latter kept missing a spot of dirt.
"You missed a spot, lemme help you" Taking the hanky from the brunette, Draco reached out and gently wiped a spot below Harry's ear, causing the latter to shiver slightly.
"I made him shiver? I could arouse such reaction from him, the boy who lived" Draco thought as he watched Harry regain his composure from shock of the sudden contact.
"He did not just touch me" Harry thought as he tried to shake out all the possibilities.
"Th...Thanks. Let's get on with work shall we?" Harry muttered before turning back to clear up the mess. Draco silently nodded and went back to moving his crates of pranks.
"Did you see that, Ronniekins? Your best friend and your worst enemy. Something's happening right there. What do you have to say?" Fred asked as he pulled the younger Weasley away from the door of the storage room where they were watching the little exchange between the blonde and the brunette.
"Bloody Hell. I didn't know Harry...Harry was...Oh gods...But then again, if he's happy, and if the ferret doesn't hurt him, I'm okay. I'll accept it like a man" Ron exclaimed.
"Excellent. Now it's time for us to show them blokes how much they want each other" George said with an evil grin.