Author's notes: This is the first time I am submitting a story, so let me know what you think!

Chapter 2:

- 'groan'

- 'ouch!'

- 'what is it with you two? It's already seven thirty and you're still sleeping like… like… oh, never mind'

Terry and Josh glared at their roommate, Hart from down on the floor.

'Yeah, but that's not a reason to roll us out of our beds.' Terry growled and immediately groaned again. He had to do some serious regaining on his lost sleep. He didn't sleep at all two days ago and went to bed at twelve o'clock yesterday.

'Aaarrggh, I'm gonna kill him…' Josh has finally opened his eyes completely after squinting for a few minutes at the sudden light. He got to his feet heavily. Hart ran out of the room. Since Terry didn't care about what was going on in the orphanage, he never spent too much time evaluating every character he saw, and was therefore surprised to find out that he was not the only bully in the orphanage. Apparently, Josh and Terry shared more than just the same hobbies.

'Way to go' Terry cheered tiredly, finally getting to his feet. 'You got rid of him.' Then he fell down again.

Josh sniggered. Terry glared at him. They both sighed and slumped down on the floor.

An hour later, they went down for breakfast. Terry's stomach was rumbling. He didn't eat since yesterday's breakfast. When they got to the hall, it was already empty and there was no food left.

'Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgggggggggghhh.' They both shouted in unison. Silence. Obviously, no one heard them because everyone was outside, including the carers. Without another word, they both turned and started in the same direction. They didn't have to speak to know where their destination was: The kitchen! Huh, what a nice word…



When they finished eating, they couldn't move a muscle. They were both slumped in their chairs, still in the kitchen when suddenly Terry jumped up as if his ass was on fire. Josh looked at him, alarmed: 'Huh?'

'I just remembered.' Terry said excitedly, practically jumping up and down for joy. 'Remember yesterday, at that potions shop?'

'That would be very difficult to forget, brother, what is it?'

'Well, I just remembered,' Terry squealed

'Yeah, I figured that much out.'

'No- you don't understand- I stole two potions from that shop yesterday. I was too tired to tell you or to even to think about it.'

Now it was Josh dancing out of his chair. 'Are you crazy? What if they caught you? This is awesome! Where did you put them?'

Terry lost his smile- 'I can't remember'

'What???? Let's go and look for it!'

Two tired and exhausted boys entered the kitchen; two jumpy and excited boys went out of the kitchen. On their way to their room Terry couldn't help but think about how close they became in just two days. And how he always felt this tingle of excitement when he was near his new friend. In only two days they became nearly as close as brothers.

When they got to their room they started the search. After a few minutes, Josh found the tiny bottles in Terry's trousers' pockets.

Each boy studied one bottle and then they both shouted in unison: 'Cool!'

'What does yours do?'

'It makes whoever drinks this look older in fifteen years. Only a few drops will last for about twenty four hours. What does yours do?'

'It makes whoever drinks this have a different appearance. It's the same as yours: only a few drops will make it last for about twenty four hours.'

'Perfect.'

They smiled at each other mischievously. They both knew exactly how they could use these potions to their advantages…

Terry looked at his watch. 'It's ten o'clock. We have till one o'clock. We can't drink the potions now, everyone will freak out. I've got a plan'



Two nine year old boys entered the public toilet in a big modern mall. Two twenty four year old men went out of the public toilet in the same big modern mall. It was all too simple. All they had to do was drink the ageing potion to make them look older. Then drink the other potion, concentrate on the face you want to turn into, et voila!

'What time is it?' Josh asked. He was now a twenty four years old man, with muscular body, blond hair and blue eyes. Terry thought he looked a bit Russian. He had a deep, masculine voice which sounded very different from his normally childish one.

'Eleven o'clock.' Terry answered, immediately startled at his own deep voice. He now looked like a fully grown man. He had deep black eyes, black hair and high cheekbones. When he looked at the mirror he saw a strange, Italian man staring back at him. All they had to do now was think of new names and a cover story.

'I go first.' Terry said jokingly. 'OK, my name will be… Renaldo Orriero- what do you think? It does sound Italian, right?'

'Yeah, it's perfect. I'm Vladimir Korsakov'

'Good. Now, why are we together?'

'I was born in Russia and you were born in Italy. We both moved to New York at a young age and learned in the same high school, became best friends, blah, blah, blah…'

'Got it. You ready?'

'When you are, brother.'

And they walked together out of the mall, wearing the clothes they "borrowed" from the orphanage's caretaker. They had no trouble finding the small pub they visited the day before. They both had a great sense of direction.

No one looked up as they entered apart from the man at the counter, what was his name? Steve? Who cared? Then Terry realised that they couldn't enter Powell Place without a wand. Great. Yesterday, they went out of the place simply by turning a handle, but getting in was a lot more difficult.

'Err…excuse me sir' Terry said, addressing the owner of the pub. 'Do you know how I can get to Powell Place?' he asked, glancing sideways at Josh for support. Josh just shrugged an gave him a "what-do-you-expect-me-to-do" look. Terry sighed with exasperation: Why was he the one to do the talking all the time?

'The back door.' Came the short reply. Uh oh. What were they supposed to do now?

Josh, probably feeling sorry for Terry, said 'could you please show us the way?'

The owner sighed, put down the glass he was just cleaning and showed them to the back. 'See?' he said, pointing to the wall- 'this is it.'

'Our wands have been stolen' Josh said. A heavy hint.

'Then why didn't you say before?' the owner took out his wand, tapped the wall three times, and the two boys found themselves in Powell Place once again. They thanked him and went inside.

This time, however, they did not pause to look around them, but went straight to "quick potion".

'Stop talking nonsense, Vlady,' Terry was saying as soon as he opened the door to the shop, pretending to continue a conversation. 'None of the other shops around needed assistants. Why do you think this one would?'

Catching on quickly, Josh replied without thinking, 'oh, no reason, Renaldo, but it's still worth a try.'

They both looked up to see the two men from yesterday listening intently to their conversation. They both hid their smiles as they saw the looks on the men's faces.

'Hello,' Josh said, feigning boredom, 'I was just looking for a job for me and my friend here but I understand that you have none. Not to worry, we're just leaving.' He said, turning to leave.

Terry had to give it to him- he was a good actor, he was just worried that he did it with just a bit of exaggeration.

The shop owner, however, did not notice anything. On the contrary- he looked like he could kiss them both. 'I'm very glad to meet you' said the shop owner with enthusiasm. 'I'm Stanley Grey, but you can call me Stan. I'm the owner of the place and I'd be more than happy to offer you a job.' Then he said, as if remembering 'Oh, and this is Charlie Weasley, he's an old friend of mine but he works in Romania. He is going to return there in two days.'

Terry and Josh nodded their heads politely. Both noticing, but not commenting on the overfriendliness of the man who was now about their age. Or maybe they looked now his age. 'Nice to meet you too Mr Grey. I'm Vladimir Korsakov and my friend here is Renaldo Orriero '

'Please, call me Stan,' Grey said quickly.

'Sure… Stan,' Josh/Vladimir said. 'Listen, me and my friend… We need a place to stay, and we don't have any money on us. Do you mind if we stay here till we have enough money to pay for ourselves?'

Terry looked at him in amazement. There was no mistaking it, this time his new friend was going too far. Was he suggesting staying at this place and… running away from the orphanage? Apparently, he did. And he was absolutely serious.

Terry looked at Stan carefully. He looked a bit bewildered at being asked such a direct question, especially because he had not told them what their salary would be yet. He seemed to consider this for a moment, then smiled and said 'Of course. There is a free room upstairs in which you can sleep and keep your belongings, but I'm afraid I have no beds, so you will have to sleep on the floor. Is that all right?' he asked.

It was obvious that he needed workers so badly that he would let two strange men sleep in his house. 'Sure,' Josh said. 'We both appreciate your help very much.'

'It is my pleasure,' Stan answered. 'Now about your working hours and payment: Since you will be staying here, you will probably need to work full time. We are open from ten o'clock in the morning till nine o'clock in the evening. You can have a lunch break from twelve thirty to one thirty and a coffee break from four o'clock to five o'clock. I can pay you eight sickles an hour each, which makes… seventy two sickles a day each. Saturday and Sunday are free because we are closed. What do you say?'

Josh and Terry looked at each other, Terry still bewildered at the idea of running away but feeling more confident at Stan's deal. He didn't know what sickles were but seventy two dollars were certainly a lot of money, and they especially appealed to him as a little boy. He had free time in the morning till ten o'clock, he also had free time from twelve thirty to one thirty and from four to five, not to mention completely free Sunday an Saturday. They would never be as free as that back in the orphanage.

Looking at his watch he could see that it was already two o'clock. He should have been back at the orphanage an hour ago, but he knew that he was not going to return to that place. Not even to collect his belongings. He didn't have anything special anyway and he would have to buy new cloths to fit his new body, which he decided he was going to use more often. Actually, he was going to use it twenty four- seven. Maybe he would transform himself back sometimes, just for the fun of it. He met Josh's gaze and knew that it was settled. They were staying at Stan's place.

'OK.' Josh said. 'You've got a deal, so, what does the job include?'

'Excellent,' Stan replied. 'You just have to make sure all the stuff is tidy and in its rightful place and deal with any customers. The prices are written on the tags on the purchases. You can start from tomorrow and have this day free.'



Terry and Josh spent the rest of their day visiting every hole and corner in Powell Place; they have been to Oleander, the best wand maker in New York, who told them about every wand he ever sold and their prices. They soon realised that a wand was the wizard's greatest necessity. Each wand cost about eight sickles.

From a trip to Gringotts, the worldwide wizarding bank, they learned that a sickle was about 1.5$, which meant that their daily salary was about… 108$!!! That man must be rich! They were definitely not going to have any problems with money!

They visited the local book shop, in which there were hundreds of thousands of interesting books- all about the wizarding world.

There were also the shops that Terry noticed on his earlier visit, like the ice-cream shop. And the cloths shop which sold socks which screamed when they became too smelly also sold normal wizarding cloths, which Terry made a note to buy and lots of other things Terry could not imagine anyone would want to buy, such as robes that changed colour according to the person's mood.

However, the thing Terry found most interesting was the sports accessories shop. They sold brooms and all kinds of weird looking balls, some of which could fly. Terry found a leaflet explaining the basic rules of the most popular wizarding sport, quiditch, which was played on a flying broom. Terry wondered what it was like to fly a broom.

Terry and Josh returned to the shop late that evening. Stan was not there but Charlie Weasley was sitting at the kitchen's table, reading a muggle's magazine and sipping coffee (by listening to people's conversations, Terry learned that a muggle meant a non-magic person).

Following Terry's gaze Charlie smiled. 'I know quite a lot about muggles.' he said, indicating the paper, 'My father works in the muggle department in the ministry of magic in Britain. He is crazy about them. I take it you are a muggle born as well? You are still wearing their clothes.' He had a deep, British accent and he was speaking in a relaxed tone.

'Yes,' Terry/Renaldo agreed. 'But I find the wizarding world much more fascinating.' He caught Josh giving him a warning look- don't push it.

'It might be,' Charlie agreed. 'If you look at it from the right point of view. Take me, for example, I work with dragons. They are really fascinating creatures. Their blood, skin and fangs are used for many things, especially for potions. See this earring I'm wearing? That's a real dragon's fang, shrunk with magic. It's used to give good luck.'

'But how can you handle them? I mean, aren't they a bit dangerous?' Josh asked, looking directly at Charlie's burn marks on the arm and face.

Charlie pulled out his wand and produced two cups of tea and two chairs. 'yeah, they are dangerous. I've only been working with them for a year because I finished school a year ago. It takes about ten men to stun a dragon. I got those marks on my first few months, when I did not have much experience, but I'm much better now. I didn't get a single burn in a whole week already!'

Terry took a sit beside Josh and started sipping the tea Charley has just summoned. It was very interested to hear about dragons, but he also wanted to know about the wizarding schools. He had to attend one if he wanted to live amongst wizards. 'What school did you go to?' Terry asked.

'Oh, I lived with my parents then, in Britain, I went to Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry with the headmaster Dumbledore. It is the best magical school in the world- you've probably heard of it?' he said proudly.

'Oh yes, of-course we heard of it. In fact, we've been attending it ourselves. Dumblydoor was a really great headmaster' Josh said quickly, receiving a "watch-it" glare from Terry.

'Really?' Charlie looked impressed. 'How come I've never seen you there?'

'Ah' Josh said in a "know-it-all" voice. 'You're still young. We attended the school a long time before you started.' Yeah, very impressive coming from a nine year old kid, Terry thought dryly.

They had a good time talking to Charlie, who was a nice guy, in Terry's opinion. In the end, they said goodnight and went to bed.

'Nice going.' Terry commented as they got into the mattresses on the floor, referring to Josh's not-so clever remarks.

'Thanks.' Josh shot back. 'Anyway, I wonder what's going on back there, they're probably looking for us. Do you figure we're gonna be in the newspapers?'

Terry knew he was talking about the orphanage. 'I don't know and I don't care.' He answered truthfully. 'Anyway, I think we should be getting some sleep now because we're supposed to start working tomorrow. And don't forget, we need to take the potions again before eleven o'clock in the morning- that is, before our twenty four hours are up. We can use the stolen potions until they are finished and then we can buy some more potions from the money we earn.'

'Huh, it's so good to have a brother who thinks about everything'

'Whatever'



'Renaldo? Renaldo! Wake up!'

'Huh?' Terry rolled over in his bed. 'Stop it Josh- shut up'

'Who's Josh?'

Terry suddenly snapped back to his senses, remembering where he was and who he was supposed to be. 'Oh, he's just someone I used to know from Hogwarts- I… had a dream about him.' he said, looking up at Charlie's face and trying to sound convincing. He wondered why Charlie woke him up at this hour. Wait, what time was it? Oh no. It was nine o'clock.

'Where's Vlady?' Terry asked, referring to Josh.

'Downstairs, eating breakfast. He said that he wanted to talk to you- that's why I woke you up'

'You woke me up because Vlady wanted to talk to me? Why couldn't he just wake me up instead? I'm gonna kill him! Hey I'm sorry if he made you do some more things like that. He could sometimes use people without thinking twice about how he's ordering them around.'

'Not at all' Charlie's ears turned red at Terry's rage. 'He wanted to come upstairs to call you but I insisted to do it myself.'

'Yeah, right.' Terry muttered, but he let the subject drop. He followed Charlie downstairs to the kitchen.

'Morning.' He muttered

'Yeah, morning, sleeping beauty. How was the night?'

Terry glared at him. 'Fine.' He answered. He looked at Josh carefully, what did he want to talk about? He didn't dare ask in case it was something Charlie Weasley was not allowed to hear. Terry and Charlie sat at the table across from Josh. It was so weird- talking to a grown up man like that. It was even weirder to be talking to Josh in that formal way.

'Can I borrow your muggle magazine?' Josh suddenly asked Charlie. Terry raised his eyebrows. Now he knew what it was all about. Josh wanted to know if their names were reported missing in the muggle world.

What Terry did not know was that Josh was so stupid, a thought which he voiced aloud. Josh should know that it should take at least a week for their names to appear at the newspaper, if not more. Josh looked at him with narrowed eyes, apparently being able to guess why Terry has made that statement.

'You call reading general muggle news being stupid?' Again, Terry knew what Josh meant. He was saying that he did not look for stuff about their disappearance, that he was only reading general news.

Charley looked as if he knew that they did not want to talk with him there and he got up to leave.

'No, it's fine, you can stay,' Terry told him firmly. 'I'll talk with Vlady later.' He added through clenched teeth.

'Yeah, no problem.' Josh added lightly. 'I think the issue has been solved already anyway.' for which he received puzzled looks both from Charlie and from Terry.



After they finished eating, Josh and Terry were heading upstairs to take their potions. By that time, it was already ten o'clock and they had to start working.

Josh was tidying the shelves while Terry stood at the sales desk.

'Can I have some help round here?' Josh said, wiping sweat from his forehead. He was wearing a short sleeved shirt which showed his bulging muscles. He actually looked quite fierce.

However, Josh's threatening looks had no effect on Terry. The only difference between them was that Josh was showing off his new muscles while Terry was hiding them. 'I'd love to help but I've got to take of the customers.'

- 'what customers?'

The doorbell rang and two women came into the shop. 'These ones.' Terry answered. Josh groaned.

'What can I do for you, ladies?' Terry asked in his best "my-only-purpose-in-life-is-to-serve-you" voice.

'I need some toads' legs powder, prowl beans and two bezoars'

'No problemo.' Terry said and bowed his head mockingly, making sure Josh was watching. 'And you ma'am?'

'Dragon's blood, powdered dragon's skin and a dragon's fang, shrunken'

'What kind of potion are you making?' He asked her curiously. From what little information he had about dragons thanks to Charlie, he knew that dragon ingredients were used to make dark stuff.

'Oh, nothing special.' The woman evaded the question and Terry did not press the point. He did not want to be fired for driving customers away. The two women paid and thanked him, then went out of the shop.

'Nice handling of customers for a nine year old.' Josh commented

'Gee, thanks. And I never commented on your heavy lifting skills. They are excellent for a five year old- I mean- nine'

'Hey, lets swap, see if you're so clever'

'Sure.' Terry agreed.

Josh took Terry's place behind the counter, putting his jacket on while Terry, pulling his jacket off, started moving things around in the shop. It was a bit refreshing to do something other than just standing like a statue behind the counter.

The bell rang and two wizards entered the shop. They both had long black robes. One of them had long, black hair complete with a long nose. The other had shoulder length blond hair which was combed neatly backwards. Their looks screamed trouble.

However, Terry just watched to see how Josh was going to take care of them. The scene was very entertaining. Terry just wished he had some popcorn. Instead, he just lifted some more heavy boxes while he watched the scene out of the corner of his eye.

The black haired guy took a small packet from a nearby shelf and put it in his pocket without bothering to hide it. The blond haired guy did the same. They both headed for the door when they heard Josh's voice: 'That'll be five sickles each.'

The blonde guy, who had a long scar running down his cheek turned around slowly.

'Do you know who I am?' He asked in a dangerous, low voice.

Josh looked at him, bored. 'Of course not, do you think you are some kind of a celebrity? If you are then I can't remember seeing you on MTV. Now gimme the money.' He ordered.

'What the hell is MTV? And why should I be seen there?' The guy asked.

'So many questions and so little answers. That's what seems to happen to all idiots.' Josh sing-sang in his still childish nine year old behaviour.

This seemed to have struck a nerve in the guy, who took his wand out quick as a flash. His friend did the same.

'Ooh. Shoplifters. I think you are not gonna pay for the things in your pockets'

'You think right.' The black haired guy commented. 'I didn't expect those high standards from the looks of you.'

'Well, in this case, if you don't pay for it, you don't take it.' Josh said simply. He inclined his head a little and both the men's wands and the stolen packets soared to the table. 'Now, I'll only give these back to you if you are good boys.'

Terry looked on curiously to see if the guys were stupid enough to stay in the shop or clever enough to leave it. Apparently, they were stupid. He could hear the black haired guy whisper 'hey, how'd he do that without his wand?'

- 'who cares.' came his friend's reply.

They both looked at each other, then lunged at Josh. Wrong move, Terry thought. These people were only used to fighting with wands, which made them very inexperienced with contact fighting. Josh and Terry, on the other hand, both had quick reflexes from the basketball pitch and very good experience of street fighting, which orphan kids got into pretty often. However, Terry hung back to teach Josh a lesson. He wanted to take care of the customers- and he did. Josh did a backwards flip on the counter and the two men collided with it with their heads. Ouch. Terry felt sorry for them. They were both lying on the floor, unconscious.

'What was that noise?' Stan stuck his head from behind the wall to the left of the staircase.

- 'shoplifters' Josh replied casually

Stan looked incredulous- 'how did you do that to them?'

'I didn't.' He replied. 'The idiots just thought it would be a good idea to bump their heads into the counter. Unfortunately, they didn't think about the consequences- the counter is broken.' He said sadly.

Terry sniggered. Stan shook his head, unbelieving, took out his wand and repaired the counter with one flick. 'Keep going boys- you're doing a great job.' He complimented.

When he was out of earshot, Terry said 'that was not fair, I was supposed to be at the counter and only you got to have all the fun. Next time, I'm the one to take care of shop lifters and you're the audience. Hey, I've got an idea, let's take it in turns!'

Josh shrugged 'OK.'

The two men were starting to come to. Josh looked at Terry. 'Here's your turn.' He said. The men run away.

'Hey, no fair. It's still gonna be me next time.'

'Whatever.'



At twelve thirty they were eating lunch. This time they were alone: Charlie went to do some shopping and Stan was nowhere to be seen.

'Life is so great when you are a grown up.' Terry commented 'you can do whatever you want. And no one even scolds you when you get into fights.' The salt soared up in the air and landed in Terry's outstretched hand. 'And you get to eat whatever you want.'

'Hey, how'd you do that? It took me ages of practice to be able to do that right.' Josh said.

'Who said I haven't been practicing?' Terry asked slyly. And he did tell the truth. He has been practicing every time he had the chance to ever since he found out he was a wizard. 'Practice makes perfect, Vladimir.'

'I agree, Renaldo.' Josh replied, and the salt soared out of Terry's hands into Josh's outstretched ones. 'Thank you.'

'At least you have some table manners. You know, I've been thinking, I'm sure we have to buy a wand but I'm a bit scared to do that. You see, wizards here become so dependent on their wands that they are completely vulnerable without it'

'Once again, I agree, wizards around here do get too dependent on their wands- but that is only because they are too lazy to make wandless magic. Most of them even think wandless magic is impossible, like those two fools you saw earlier. This means that after we get a wand, we practice every spell we learn with, and without a wand.'

'Great idea, brother,' Terry said, mimicking Josh. 'Who knows, maybe there is a genius somewhere deep inside you.'

Josh was about to reply, when Charlie entered the kitchen.

'You two seem to be very close to each other. When did you meet?'

'In Hogwarts, of-course.' Josh answered without hesitation. Their original story was that they were supposed to have met in a high school in New York. The problem was that they did not know if there was any magical school around that area. 'We became very good friends as soon as we met each other, right, Renaldo? None of us went anywhere without the other.'

'Yes.' Terry agreed.

'Did you go to the same house?' Charlie asked with interest.

'Huh?'

'I mean were you both in Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff?'

'Grydoor!' Josh exclaimed. -'we were both in Grydoor'

'I like the name,' he whispered to Terry.

'Back to work!' Terry said excitedly after looking at his watch.

'I've never seen anyone who likes to work that much.' Charlie mused out loud.

'Oh, it depends what job you give him. Renaldo likes jobs with action.'

Charlie looked at him blankly. After several seconds he seemed to have reached the same conclusion Terry have reached a very long time ago: Josh was completely, totally and utterly crazy.

'Stop looking at me with this expression.' Josh told Charlie. 'I know what you're thinking, but you should know that shop keeping can contain more action than you might think. It depends on the way you look at it.' He said cleverly, quoting Charlie's own words and walking back towards the counter.

After a while, Josh and Terry reached an agreement. They both work on weight-lifting (their version of carrying boxes around), and they take turns serving the customers, when they hear the doorbell, unless it's shoplifters, in which case the turn only counts as the shoplifter turns. Terry was excited to think that the next time there was a shop lifter, it was his turn.

Suddenly, the doorbell rung. Terry looked up. It was his turn both for the counter and for the shop lifters so he had to deal with whoever it was. His heart leapt with joy as he looked at the doorway. There stood the two guys from earlier, only with another, bigger guy.

'Yesss.' He didn't realise he said it out loud until the three thugs and Josh looked at him; the three thugs looked at him confusedly and Josh looked at him enviously.

'No fair!' he said 'you get three and I only got two'

'Hey, it's not my fault, I didn't get any before that.'

The thugs obviously decided that they were both crazy and wanted to get it over with.

'It was this one.' The blonde said to the new guy. All three started towards Josh.

'Hey, didn't you just hear what me and my partner were talking about?' Terry said, jumping to block their path. 'He's busy, it's my turn now.'

Three wands were suddenly drawn out and pointed at him. 'Get out of the way.'

Terry looked sideways at Josh. He was standing with his arms crossed over his chest, waiting to see what Terry was going to do. Terry decided that he wouldn't take their wands just yet. He did not want to be so unoriginal as to use the same stunts Josh pulled. Instead he was going to try something new.

One of the men fired a hex at him. That was exactly what he wanted him to do. He wanted to try to block spells for the first time before Josh did. That's what he wanted to do- only it didn't work. Damn, Terry thought as he used his basketball reflexes to dodge the hex at the last possible second. OK, here comes another chance… get ready… concentrate… the hex was fired. A shield was made up in front of Terry and the spell bounced backwards, hitting the thug square on the chest. He fell to the floor and did not get up.

'What the…' a second thug was saying. Then pulled himself together and fired another hex.

I'm having too much fun. Terry thought. He did not want to get rid of that man. Instead, he produced a shield which absorbed the spell instead of rebounding it. Ah, that's better. He continued blocking the spells, until he became tired and just took their wands.

'How can you guys be so stupid and come back here?' He asked, 'after what he did to you, and he's weaker than me.' He added, inclining his head towards Josh. His hairs stood up in all directions even in this new form.

'Am not!' Josh chimed in. 'I can prove it- step aside.'

But before Terry could refuse or oblige, the three… err… two- thugs were out of the shop.

'That was quite impressive.' Charlie noted from the doorway. Terry was so occupied that he did not notice him watching the whole thing. 'Now I know what you mean by shop keeping being a job with action,' he said, addressing Josh.

'What do you mean? I didn't get to the action yet- I only used magic. I didn't have any time left for contact.' Terry said, receiving the same look Josh received a few hours ago from Stan, only this look came from Charlie.

Charlie shook his head while Josh and Terry got back to work on the boxes.

The two "men" had a good time chatting and working for the rest of the afternoon. After some time, Charlie felt a bit uncomfortable chatting with the two working men while he did nothing, and offered to help.

'Nah, we're, cool. Right, brother?' Terry said

'Right. And, anyway, we're getting paid for this. If you work we'll have to give you some of our money and I'm not that generous.' Josh added.

Charlie laughed. 'You two are unbelievable.' he said.

'Of-course,' Josh said- 'we're two of a kind.'

At coffee break Terry wanted to have a word with Josh privately. They excused themselves and went upstairs to their room.

'What is it?' Josh asked uneasily.

'Well, it's nothing bad, it's just- do you think we can trust Charlie Weasley?' Terry asked, looking a bit uncomfortable.

Josh caught on quickly. 'You mean you want to tell him? No way. I'm definitely not gonna do that. We're gonna be sent straight back to the orphanage.'

'You didn't even hear what I was going to say.' Terry said, annoyed, 'now, listen without interrupting and then tell me what you think.' He paused to look at Josh's reaction. He didn't say anything, so Terry took it as a sign to continue. 'OK, if you think about our situation now, I think we are independent. This means that we'll have to take care of ourselves, which means that we'll also have to find some education. I was thinking Hogwarts. It sounds like a good place, according to Charlie and if we want to apply we need someone who knows about these kinds of things, because, for an obvious reason, I don't think that applying to a wizarding school is the same as applying to a normal school. We can just make Charlie promise he wouldn't tell anyone about us and ask him for help. We don't have much time since he will be leaving tomorrow in the evening.'

Josh looked at him. 'I think you have a point.' He said slowly.

'So, are we agreed?' Terry asked quickly, before Josh could change his mind.

There was a long pause from . 'Yes.'

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