Chapter 7: Second year and vanishing quills

As time passed, first year came and went, it is no surprise that we had memorized every single nook and cranny in Hogwarts. You might recall that on Christmas vacation we had become apprentices to Nicholas Zonko (coindentually we forgot to tell Mum about this). We obviously had a knack for mischief and we quickly learned simple hexes, classic pranks, and easy-to-make potions. Soon we started to make our own improved versions. Our peers came to notice this talent of ours and there began the demands for novelties and tricks.

That's when we got the idea

To market our goods

And as time flew by...

...And profits came in...

The idea of opening our own joke shop was beginning to sound like an excellent one

I remember our first seller...

We were sitting in the common room, it was the middle of second year and we were working on vanishing charms. And we were having a difficult time; after all, it was rather advanced magic, at least for a pair of second years...

"Extinctio!" Fred flicked his wand hopefully at a single quill. The quill shivered slightly but still remained. He frowned.

"I think it looks a bit paler" George said encouragingly.

"Still looks the same to me"

"Let me try..."

"You're supposed to flick your wand" Fred flicked his wand in a circular motion "like so... at least that's what the book says"

"Extinctio!" George flicked his wand like Fred. Nothing happened. He took the book Fred was reading. "It's supposed to be a counter-clockwise flick!"

"Really?"

"Yes you dolt!" George chuckled. "Try it again"

"Extinctio!" Fred flicked his wand in a counter-clockwise motion. The quill shivered slightly and disappeared.

"Finally!" George smiled.

"Hey Fred, George!" Lee came over and sat down. "What are you doing... it's Saturday" He frowned thinking they were doing homework.

"We're working on vanishing charms" Fred smiled.

"Yeah we have a little surprise for the Slytherins on Monday's potion quiz"

"Brilliant!" Lee laughed. "So what's the surprise?"

"Well-

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Monday, Snape's Dungeon

"Pop quiz! Take out a piece of parchment and quills. The questions..." He flicked his wand "are written on the board."

The students grunted as they took out their supplies. Fred and George had performed a simple "Accio" just before the class filed in so Slytherins were quill-less. Next Fred placed a cup with several quills next to Marcus Flint's desk. The Slytherins, not finding their quills took the ones in the cup.

"You have forty-five minutes. You may begin now" Snape sat down at his desk and started grading essays.

Fifteen minutes into the quiz half the class erupted into confused murmurs. Fred had placed a time charm on the quills so that they would vanish fifteen minutes after the quill had been dipped into the inkbottle.

"What's all this racket? Silence or I'll give you all D's!" Snape hissed angrily.

"But professor!" a student began.

"Hush!"

"But our quills vanished!" a scary looking Slytherins girl protested.

"Then you were obviously cheating! Don't you know we put anti- cheating charms on the classrooms before an examination!?" He fumed.

"But!"

"Not another word Miss Henley!" He hissed.

After that incident most Slytherins got D's and A's

I think Flint got a T!!!

He is such a git; he wouldn't have scored higher...

Well, vanishing quills became an instant hit after that!

Five quills for 3 sickles!

A bargain!

::cough:: buy them in Diagon Alley ::cough::

We'll keep you posted! We have customers waiting!

A/N- I finally got up to the task of writing this! I've been really preoccupied lately, one of my stories just got banned and I'm REALLY pissed off about the whole ordeal... not to worry though, I think I still have the old chapters in my archives... I just hope the computer didn't delete them.