* The new crayons *

"Wed! Wed!" 2-year-old Belle exclaimed happily as she pointed to Weasley Wizard Wheezes building while she and her mother walked towards it hand in hand one Saturday afternoon. Hermione couldn't help but smile at her little girl.

"That's right, baby! It's red." she praised. Belle looked at her and giggled in delight. She had recently learnt all the colours of the rainbow and was eager to share her new knowledge with anyone who was willing to listen to her.

"Bue! Bue!" Belle exclaimed as she pointed to the roof of the building.

"Yes. That's blue, sweetie." Hermione praised again as she opened the door and they walked in the place. The shop was packed with people that day, mostly with eager soon-to-be Hogwarts students.

"Well, well! If it isn't my favourite niece!" they heard someone say.

"Ucca Geogie! Ucca Geogie!" Belle shouted as she let go off her mother's hand and ran to the red-haired man in front of them. George kneeled down and opened his arms widely to embrace his niece.

"Hi George! Seems you're pretty busy today." Hermione said.

"Weekend before Hogwarts starts is always the busiest one." he said standing up with the little girl in his arms. "You're looking for ickle Ronniekins?" he asked wiggling his eyebrows with a mischievous smile on his face. Hermione blushed a bit and smiled.

"Actually, I'm looking for crayons." she said. He looked at her, a bit surprised by her answer.

"Crayons?" he asked. She nodded.

"The last box of self-sharpening crayons is almost empty at home, so I wanted to get ahead of myself and get one before pandemonium starts during coloring hour." she said referring to Belle's infamous terrible two's tantrums. George nodded and accioed a yellow crayon box and gave it to Hermione.

"You know, we have a new prototype of magical crayons." he started. "Relax! They won't harm her!" he said after he'd seen her skeptical face. He accioed a white box and gave it to her. She took it, a bit unsure.

"what do they do?" she asked.

"A bit of everything. It's harmless, I promise! Let me know what she thinks about them. I was going to take them to The Burrow tomorrow for her and Teddy to try, but since she's here..." he said as a couple of more customers walked in. Hermione took Belle from him.

"Gweem! Gweem!" Belle exclaimed, excited, as she pointed at her uncle. George looked at her, confused.

"Yes, baby. Uncle George's suit is green. Very good!" Hermione praised, then kissed the baby's cheek. George smiled and went to help his customers as Ron got to them.

"I thought I heard someone shouting colours." he said, then kissed Hermione. "What are you doing here?" he asked. Hermione showed him the boxes of crayons. He nodded.

"I wanted to get ahead of myself before hell broke at home again." Hermione answered. Ron smiled a bit and nodded. Lately, Belle was going through the Terrible Twos stage, which meant that she was bound to have tantrums very often when something didn't go as she planned or when she didn't get her way. The latest one was a couple of days before, and both Ron and Hermione remembered vividly how the kitchen sink exploded and plates, cauldrons and even Kreacher flew around the kitchen when Belle's milk was spilled by accident.

"My shift is over in an hour. Want to stay and wait for me? We can go for a walk later and have some ice cream or something.," he suggested.

"Are you sure? George said it's quite busy today." Hermione said, but Ron nodded.

"Angelina is coming in an hour to take the late shift, so I'm pretty sure. Let's go to my office!" he said, leading the way upstairs. He had been working part-time with George for two years when he wasn't at the ministry or in a mission and he already had what used to be Fred's office. It was a modest, white room with a desk, two chairs and many papers. As soon as they got there, Ron turned one of the chairs in a high one and sat Belle there. Then, he gave her some spare rolls of parchment that he had for her to draw, and kissed her head. "I'll be back in a little while to see you." he said, then kissed Hermione and left. Hermione took out the crayons from the white box and sat on the next chair.

"pwetty bue, mommy!" Belle exclaimed, pointing at her drawing. Hermione looked at it. Little blue sparks emerged from the little scribbled that she had made. Hermione smiled.

"Very pretty, sweetheart!" she exclaimed as she took out a book from her bag and started reading it. A couple of minutes later, Hermione noticed something was off and she looked at her daughter. She looked upset. "Belle, what is it, baby?" she asked.

"Wed, mommy! Wed!" she shouted, nearly crying. Hermione looked at her drawing where there was an orange scribble on it next to the sparkly blue one.

"That's orange, baby." Hermione corrected.

"Wed! Wed!" Belle insisted, crying.

"No, sweetie. That's orange. You have red in your hand. Look!" Hermione said pointing at the crayon her daughter was holding.

"Wed! want wed!" Belle shouted and threw the crayon angrily to the floor.

"Belle Granger-Weasley! We do not throw things to the floor!" Hermione said, sternly, as she got up and went to pick the crayon up. Belle just broke down in tears, crying about her red crayon. Hermione picked her up and held her, trying to calm her down. "Here's red, sweetheart! See? Red!" Hermione said, drawing a happy face on the parchment. Belle shook her head and cried, and Hermione realized why. The little drawing suddenly turned orange. Hermione sighed. She put the crayons back in the box as the door opened and George appeared with a plate with cookies.

"Ron said you were staying here for a while. See you were trying the new crayons. So?" he asked, hopeful. Belle just cried and Hermione looked at him and gave him the box back.

"Well, I would label this under 4 years old +." she said. George looked at her, shocked.

"Why?" he asked.

"She really liked the sparkly blue one, but she wasn't very happy when her red drawing turned orange without her consent.," she explained. George kept looking at her. "For someone who's just discovering the world, colour-changing crayons are not that funny since early stage. Maybe when she's 5, she'll appreciate them more." she explained, reassuringly. "But... I would definitely add the sparkly colours range for kids of her age." she added later when she saw George's disappointed face. George nodded.

The next day, George presented Belle and Teddy with a new set of crayons that sparkled when you used them. The kids were marveled at them and it was a huge success among the youngest customers later on. As for the colour-changing crayons, George decided to keep working on them. He really wanted his niece to enjoy them as much as she enjoyed everything else.