Chapter 89

Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes

August was a jam-packed month for Lily, and for the rest of her friends, with their training, spending some time at the Ministry of Magic, watching how some of the different departments worked, and planning for the new year at Hogwarts. Lily wanted it to be a simple year, but somehow, she knew that wasn't going to happen.

One of the best days of the holidays, however, came when they got their list of schoolbooks and needed supplies, because it meant they'd get to go and see Fred and George at work.

On the morning of the trip to Diagon Alley, they were joined by Percy Weasley, as well as Bill, Charlie, and Hagrid, all of whom arrived at Grimmauld Place before breakfast. Bill had come with a large purse of money for Lily; he had gotten it from her account, to save the hassle of queueing up, which was taking ages for anyone, for security reasons. He had also gotten two more purses from her account, one for Sirius, and one for Molly, which was full of Galleons.

All the working Weasley children had put money into Molly's account, and she had received a large sum of money from Arthur's life insurance policy. She was trying to be strong for her children, but Lily knew they all saw how much she was hurting, so they were determined to give her a fantastic day out.

As soon as breakfast was finished, Lily called Hagrid into the library. "Hagrid, I need to tell you something," Lily said. "And I hope you won't hate me, or any of us, for it."

"Lily, there's nothing yeh can say that will make me hate you," Hagrid assured her. Lily took a breath.

"Hagrid, we've been training and preparing for our future careers, and planning what lessons we'll be taking," Lily started. Hagrid held up a hand to stop her.

"Don't yeh worry, Lily. I figured none of yeh would have time to take my class. I know some of the students are coming for my class, enough to keep me busy," Hagrid said. "I also know this had ter be a hard thing to say."

"I was afraid you would be upset," Lily admitted.

"Yer can't be expected to do everything Lily, an' I won't cause you any strife by complaining," Hagrid said. "But if yeh need anything, or need ter know anything about creatures, I'm always here."

Lily embraced Hagrid in a hug, smiling as she did. "Thank you, Hagrid. I've always appreciated your friendship, ever since I met you. I remember meeting you in London, and I was amazed at how tall you were. But you brought me Hedwig as a present, and you've always been here for me."

"Yer gonna make me cry in a minute," Hagrid said, grinning at her. "Come on, let's go see what trouble those twins have made for people," he teased. Lily felt thankful to her friend as they left the house, all of them using Floo Powder to get to Diagon Alley.

It was impossible to miss Fred and George's shop anywhere in Diagon Alley. There was a gloomy look and feel to the alley, with a number of shops boarded up and closed. They passed someone who was selling amulets, but Percy immediately arrested him, knowing they weren't real, and promised he'd be back shortly, taking the man to the Ministry of Magic.

As they reached Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, Molly froze, as Ron read out the largest advertisement.

"Why are you worried about You-Know Who? You should be worried about U-No-Poo, the constipation sensation that's gripping the nation," Ron read, before roaring with laughter. "Bloody brilliant."

"They'll be murdered in their beds," Molly gasped.

"No they won't Mum, this is brilliant," Ron told her.

"Mum, trust me, You-Know-Who won't bother with Fred and George; he won't see them as worth his time," Bill assured her, as they walked into the store. Lily walked with Hermione to a clearly popular area, smiling as they saw what was being sold.

"A daydream spell?" Hermione asked, reading the ad. "That's exceptionally gifted magic," she complimented.

"Just for that Hermione," Fred said, as he and George arrived.

"You can have one for free," George finished, taking one from the shelf and handing it to her.

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked, smiling. "I can't wait to try this out."

"Then go for it," Fred and George said, grinning at her.

"And Lily, anything you want, just let us know, it's on the house," Fred said.

"I can't do that," Lily told them.

"Lily, without you, we wouldn't have our shop. We're never going to forget that," George told her.

"Want to come and see something really awesome?" Fred asked, just as Ron came by with a few items.

"How much for all this?" Ron asked. Fred and George smiled at the pranks and jokes in his arms.

"Continuing our reign of terror at Hogwarts, are you?" George asked.

"Well, someone has to," Ron laughed. Fred and George magicked up a bag for Ron and put the items in there.

"Because it's you, little brother, one galleon," Fred said. Ron took a galleon from his pocket, handing it to Fred.

"Do these actually work?" Ginny asked, looking at love potions.

"Oh yes, they work, and they're really good," Fred replied.

"Not that you need them, since you already have Lily's love," George added, laughing.

"You guys are awesome," Ginny complimented, hugging her brothers. "What's the U-No-Poo thing?"

"Oh, that's one of our best sellers lately, it's a chocolate sweet that stops people needing to go to the toilet," Fred said.

"And it comes with the opposite as well, so when someone hasn't gone for a while," George continued.

"They need to let it all out at once!" Fred and George said together.

"These are so cute!" Lavender was carrying a small, pink, furry animal that was purring.

"We bred them from Puffskein's," Fred explained.

"We call them Pygmy Puffs. We need to thank your Uncle Sirius for them, he kinda gave us the idea," George continued.

"We saw an episode of Star Trek, with something called Tribbles," Fred added.

"And we knew they'd be popular," George finished, grinning.

"Please tell me they don't breed as much as tribbles do," Sirius said firmly, from nearby.

"Don't worry, we made sure they don't," Fred promised.

"Good, I don't think Dumbledore would appreciate Hogwarts being overrun with them, no matter how cute they are," Sirius commented.

"Mum, can I have a Pygmy Puff?" Ginny asked, as Fred and George led Lily back behind curtains in the shop.

"This is our more serious line," Fred said.

"We call this a Shield Cloak," George picked up a black cloak, smiling.

"We wanted something funny, and figured this would be brilliant, you have a friendly duel with a friend," Fred continued.

"And watch their face as their curse bounces off," George finished.

"That's a brilliant idea," Lily complimented.

"Well, we thought so, but then, the Ministry ordered five hundred for their support staff!" George exclaimed.

"So many of their staff can't do a decent shield charm, but they never had you teaching them," Fred explained.

"We then expanded the line into shield gloves, hats, and even boots," George told her. "And we're going further."

"Like this," Fred handed Lily a small, black orb. "Peruvian Instant Darkness powder, drop this and it'll make everything pitch black."

"And this is all thanks to you," George told her. He picked up a small box, with a handle, and gave it to Lily. "This is a gift, we put together a small package of items for you, for defence and protection. We wanted to do something to help."

"Guys, this is…" Lily began, but Fred cut her off.

"No arguments. You believed in us from the start, Lily, and you gave us the money we needed to start off," Fred told her.

"And if you ever need more to expand, just let me know," Lily told them. "Uncle Sirius has been talking about investments and such, and honestly, using my money to help you two expand is one of the best things I can do."

Lily had rarely seen the twins speechless, but both of them looked at her, with their mouths agape, tears in their eyes, as they processed what she had said, before both hugged her.

"You really are amazing, Lily," Fred said.

"We'll be able to expand ourselves, but you'll always be a part of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes," George promised.

"Remember, if you ever need anything, just let us know," Fred told her. "Do you want to see some of our other fun sellers?"

"Sure," Lily agreed, pausing as she saw Rufus Scrimgeour come in through the back entrance of the shop.

"Ah, Miss Potter, good to see you," Scrimgeour said. "Mr. Weasley, Mr. Weasley, do you have the latest order?"

"We do, Minister," Fred said.

"I'll show Lily around," George told him, as Fred went to a door with the Minister. Leading Lily back into the shop, George smiled. "He's a hands-on Minister, and he likes to pick up the orders himself."

"It's impressive, the work you're doing. You two have a natural gift for this," Lily said.

"Well, we do our best," George told her, as they reached what looked like muggle magic tricks. "We made this line in honour of Dad, muggle tricks that you can show to muggles, and impress them. We do a steady business with them, some people love them," George explained.

"Like when muggles pull a rabbit from a hat?" Lily asked. George grabbed a black hat, and pulled a rabbit from it, before putting it back.

"This one basically has a floo powder spell that activates when a witch or wizard puts their hand in. If muggles do it, then it won't work," George told her.

"That's… wow… that's incredible magic," Lily exclaimed. "How did you not get every OWL you went for?"

"Honestly? I think it's just that we were bored with exams and studying," George admitted. "We knew what we could do, but exams just never seemed important."

"As long as you can do the magic, I guess that's what's important," Lily said. "I wonder if you have what muggles call Autism."

"What's that then?" George asked.

"It's where people struggle to pay attention to things they deem boring, are exceptionally skilled and focused on a particular subject or subjects, but only specialist subjects that they love. I mean, you don't have all the traits that some people have, but you're hyper focused on your pranks and magic, and honestly, it's not a bad thing. I mean, some people struggle with it, but for others, it can make them better at what they do," Lily said. George simply shrugged.

"Well, sounds possible, but I wouldn't wanna be any other way," George told her.

"Me either," Fred said, grinning as he arrived. "The Minister wants five hundred pairs of gloves as well."

"Okay, so we'll be busy later," George told him.

"You're doing amazing work," Lily complimented. Fred handed her the box that they had given her.

"Don't forget this lot," Fred said, as Sirius joined them.

"Shopping already?" Sirius teased.

"No, this is a present from Fred and George," Lily said. Sirius took the box so Lily could keep looking around.

"That's sweet of you both," Sirius said.

"We wouldn't be here without Lily," Fred said.

"So, we wanted to do something nice for her," George added.

"You two have done amazing things here. I'm buying a few things myself, and honestly, I'm impressed. Your mum's impressed as well," Sirius told them.

"That's better than when she used to get annoyed with our pranks and magic," Fred laughed.

"And told us they'd never get us jobs," George finished.

"Okay, I was wrong," Molly was smiling as she approached them. "I'm proud of you boys."

"Blimey, are you okay Mum?" Fred asked.

"Did someone hit you over the head or something?" George added. Lily giggled as Molly hugged them, feeling better about the day, and about everything, glad to see the happiness there.

Down the alley, in Borgin and Burkes, three figures walked around the shop, looking at the items there. "Are you sure you can do this?" one of the three asked, in a deep voice.

"Yes sir, I can," Borgin replied, looking at the three of them. He was trembling a little, afraid, knowing who they were. "But I'll need to see it."

"That's not possible, and you know it," the second one said, looking at Borgin with cold eyes. "But you will be instructing us."

"Of course, of course," Borgin replied. "I would never disappoint."

"You had better not," the third person, a woman, said coldly. "This will succeed."

"I trust you know to keep your mouth shut," the first person added.

"Yes, of course, of course, full discretion is assured," Borgin replied. "I would never speak of this, to anyone."

"If you do, then Fenrir Greyback will be coming by to visit you, and he won't be as nice as we have been," the second person told him. Borgin nodded.

"No need for threats, I assure you, I'll help you and make sure it works," Borgin promised. "Just… give me time."

"In the meantime, the rest of our order?" the third person asked. Borgin handed them a large box.

"Everything's in there, so please be careful not to touch them without the right protection," Borgin said. The three took the box, before disapparating within the shop, leaving Borgin alone, afraid for his life, as he summoned a book and began to read it, needing to succeed, for his own sake. He didn't care about anyone else, but he intended to live a lot longer.