A New Life

April 17th, 2009

Draco Malfoy never imagined himself setting foot into Weasley's Wizard Wheezes for any reason in his adulthood, much less with the intent of seeking work. He never thought he would ever have to even look or ask for a job, for that matter. These drastic shifts in his life after the War were starting to feel like a twisted game, and he was not liking it one bit. Amnesty may have been granted, but not without conditions.

Malfoy Manor was usurped right out from under them simply because it was the Death Eater Headquarters. The outrageous fines – labeled 'restoration donations'– nearly wiped the vaults. As a result, the Malfoys settled into a smaller estate, and Draco continued to follow pureblood customs for familiarities sake. He courted Astoria Greengrass, married, and sired an heir, as all good pureblood sons did.

Draco thought he had established a stable, quiet life, until Astoria decided she was done. Her abandonment of him and their young son threw all of his recovery plans completely off balance.

When he went to his parents, they were furious with him. Purebloods didn't divorce, purebloods were never unfaithful, purebloods never expressed abnormal feelings towards their same sex. Unable to set aside their delusional, prejudiced, bigoted customs fabricated from the Dark Ages to help their son, they shut him completely out and turned their backs.

Just like how the shops were turning him away, too. Draco needed a job, and he needed lodging. What little money he had on hand dwindled each day he came up with nothing. The owners had taken one look at his son and scoffed at the idea of having a potential employee's child hanging about the store. Draco had no one to watch him, and so the negotiations to keep Scorpius with him while working was denied.

Entering the only store left in the Alley when his funds could no longer carry him, Draco saw that the store wasn't busy, which did little for his nerves. Setting the exhausted Scorpius on the ground, the very young boy peered around at all the merchandise that surrounded him in complete awe.

"Stay by me, understand?"

"But—"

"And don't touch anything," Draco added.

Scorpius scowled at the order. After bypassing the shop several times and seeing all the bustling activity going on inside, it always caught his attention and piqued his interest. Now that he was finally on the other side of the glass, he was upset to not be able to properly explore it.

"Look who finally came in after so many years of spying from the window," one of the twins announced while they descended from the stairs.

Both Draco and Scorpius jumped when the other apparated right in front of them. "About time, I say. Was starting to get weird after a while."

"I wasn't spying," the blond hissed, "It's hard to ignore the ruckus going on when passing by is all."

The two just gave a slow, brow-raised nod as if to say: "Sure it was."

"So what can we do you for?"

The two got right to the point.

"Care to stock up on more Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder?"

"Or how about something similar like the Tele-Snapper?"

Draco decided that this was one of the worst ideas he had ever followed through with as he half-listened to their indirect teasing.

"Both are great getaway quick gadgets—"

"But you already know that, eh Malfoy?"

Scorpius giggled at the fast paced, back-and-forth talk the twins exchanged. This caught one of the twins' attention, who glanced around Draco to spot the boy clinging to his father's robes.

"You talk silly," Scorpius stated when he met their gaze.

"Ah, he has a wee one now—"

"Looks just like him, too. Unsurprising, really."

"Strong genes."

Draco refrained from rolling his eyes. Placing a hand on Scorpius' shoulder when he started to step forward, he gently pulled him back. This was a sign the boy was comfortable around these two already, and if his son was okay with someone, then it was going to be a chore to get him to leave.

"They always talk like that, Scorpius. It's dreadfully annoying," the blond jabbed, reconsidering the entire reason that he had entered the store.

The twin who noticed Scorpius knelt down to be eye level with him. He subconsciously stepped closer to his father, but he didn't take his eyes off the ginger in front of him. "Wanna see a cool trick?"

Scorpius' eyes lit up and he nodded, eager to see something as fascinating as what he'd seen through the windows before.

"No, no tricks," Draco snapped.

Scorpius folded his arms and huffed.

"Lighten up, mate. I promise it's harmless."

Scorpius piped up, noticing something. "Your ear's gone."

"Scorpius—" Draco was cut off.

"It is?" Acting surprised, the twin covered the area where most of his ear was missing. "You're absolutely right! That bugger ran off again. Couldn't have gone far. Must be somewhere about here."

Scorpius broke into a fit of laughter as the ginger dramatically looked around. "Do you see it anywhere?"

The little boy pointed in front of him. "Over 'tere! In yellow box!"

Before Draco could stop whatever was transpiring between the two, the other twin made quick work in distracting him while Scorpius bolted in the direction of the alleged missing ear.

"You're here for the job, right?" Draco turned his attention to the twin standing beside him. It was then he saw the nametag pinned on Fred's suit.

"How—"

"Why else would you be here?" Fred directed Draco away from the two who were now roaming around the shop on an Ear Scavenger Hunt. "We've seen you marching back and forth past our shop for the last week, figured it wasn't for leisure after the third day. Especially with that look you had on your face."

Draco tried to keep his attention on Scorpius and wasn't fully paying attention to Fred. He watched his son hold up a yellow box to George with a fake ear inside. "He'll be fine. George loves entertaining children."

Scorpius was giggling like crazy as George stuck the toy to the side of his face, tucking the other in his pocket, and completely ignoring the red cord that attached them.

"How do I look?"

"Funny! You haf string on it."

"It'll think twice before running off again, wouldn't it?"

"Let's get on with the interview, hm?" Fred started for the stairs but Draco halted at their base.

This was some sort of trick. Call it intuition, but he just knew it had to be. After giving it a quick thought, Draco didn't recall a sign being in the window when he started the task of looking for a job. He was not going to fall for it, not this time. He couldn't remember how many times he'd fallen for the Weasleys' tricks during his school years, but it was enough to make him feel foolish, gullible, humiliated, and hurt.

"I think I'll pass, actually."

Draco turned to hone in on Scorpius, about to summon him over, but he was caught up on how happy the boy looked running around the joke shop with George and handing things to him while asking him how the gadget worked. It felt like ages since he'd seen his son genuinely happy for a change.

"Not sure why you would. You can have the job," Fred declared with a grin.

The blond looked at Fred, completely puzzled at what he just said. "Why?"

"You know how to count?"

"Yes?"

"How to organize, record inventory, and have people skills?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Yes."

"Might need some work on the latter, but you're hired. We always need someone to do the grunt work around here, and you fit the criteria."

Draco was rendered speechless, he was not expecting the twins to even bother humoring him with the idea of a proper interview solely based on past events alone. But to right out tell him he could take the position just like that? Something strange was amiss.

"Splendid," Draco said dryly.

Scorpius came up to him during his thought process and tugged on his robes.

"Look! It fies!" Scorpius set the aviatombile off from his hand and watched it fly up into the air and buzz around their heads.

Draco caught the car and handed it to Fred. "I said not to touch anything."

Scorpius looked taken aback, and the tiredness in his eyes suddenly shone through again. Draco knew that he was treading on thin ice. His son was moments away from an exhaustive meltdown. He scooped him up and whispered an apology before addressing the two.

"Now you've done it," George quipped, seeing the unhappy face Scorpius plastered on. "It really isn't a problem. I gave it to him."

"That isn't the point," Draco huffed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I need to take him home to rest. I'll come back later."

"We no haf one, 'member?" Scorpius stated tiredly.

Draco mentally swore. Of all the things for his son to let slip, it had to be that. Everything grew quiet for a brief moment, and Draco wished he took the opportunity to disapparate out of there when he had the chance.

"He could sleep in the spare room upstairs," Fred suggested. "Gives us the opportunity to sort through the boring stuff to get you hired."

The blond was effectively surprised at the offer. "You're serious?"

"Thought it was quite simple, actually. We need an employee, you need a job—" George started.

"So let's get the tyke settled in and get on with it, yeah?" Fred skipped up the stairs with George following close behind.

Draco was unsure of what just happened, but slowly followed the pair up. Scorpius already sagged heavily against him, so he knew he was fading quickly. It was strange going into their flat to leave his kid there, but he wasn't going to waste the opportunity that had fallen into his hands like it did. He was that desperate for work that he didn't care where it came from, or from whom, anymore.

Everything was soon sorted, gone through, and signed. It seemed too easy to Draco, but he was an official employee of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes now. The uniform was atrocious and he made sure to verbalize his absolute disgust about it.

"You will not catch me dead wearing these magenta robes."

"Part of the job requirement. Sorry, mate."

Running his hands over his face, Draco snatched the ugly outfit from the pair and collected his paperwork. "I never did get around to saying thank you, did I?"

"No need to," George dismissed.

Fred escorted the blond back to their flat across from the office. "Just turn up tomorrow."

Draco looked in on his still sleeping son, not looking forward to waking him to leave. A hand was suddenly placed on his shoulder, making the blond freeze on the spot. He was not used to people just touching him leisurely and with such ease like that.

"Ya know, you could just stay here. That way there'd be no need to wake him up," George offered, peeking into the room at Scorpius.

"At the very least you'd have zero excuse to be late on the first day," Fred added. "Or any other day, for that matter."

Draco blinked slowly, looking at his slumbering son in bewilderment as he processed the very casual offer to move in with Fred and George Weasley.

'What's happening…'

On any other day, the very thought of rooming with a Weasley would have made him sick to his stomach, or hex someone into oblivion for mentioning it. As he watched Scorpius peacefully sleep a couple meters away, Draco knew that staying in the Inn another night and ordering takeaway for dinner and breakfast would completely exhaust the last of his funds. If he accepted this proposal, then he'd at the very least have a clean exchange – work for a room was his only option now before he and his son were sleeping on the benches in the streets. After all, this was only temporary, and security was needed for Scorpius' sake right now.

"If you insist."

Originally written for:

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments)

Monthly Challenges for All

The Houses Competition

Word count: (Per Google Docs) 2,042