Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes
Harry finished up at Fortescue’s, and stood up, careful to not wake the snake around his shoulders.
And then Harry turned, staring up at the Weasley twins’ shop. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘩𝘦'𝘥 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵.
He walked across the street and pushed open the door, grinning as he immediately heard an explosion go off in the depths of the store. He stepped further inside and began to browse the products.
The twins were always updating their stocks, and there was different and new things almost daily. He saw a button on the side of the wall that said ‘DON'T PUSH’, so, of course, Harry pushed the button.
And then the whole frame of the building shook as cannons shot out colored smoke. Harry let out a startled laugh, trying to see through the smoke.
The explosions seemed to have summoned the Weasley twins, as they practically materialized at Harry's sides.
“Harry-”
“Our favorite-”
“Benefactor!”
The twins chorused as usual, and George was about to sweep Harry up in a hug before a startled hiss stopped him.
“Would you look at that, Gred! Our little heir of Slytherin has a friend!” George said, leaning away but still looking at the snake.
Harry rolled his eyes at George, that heir of Slytherin thing was years ago.
“𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘴𝘴?” Ambrosia hissed, annoyed at being awakened from her nap.
“𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘎𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦, 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘴𝘴.” Harry hissed back, grinning at the looks on the twins’ faces.
“It’s weird to hear parseltongue.”
“All sorts of hissy noises.”
Harry let out another laugh at that.
“Anyways, Dear-”
“Benefactor, what brings you-”
“To our fine establishment?”
Harry’s grin only widened. He found the twins and their word-sharing or whatever amusing.
“I'm in the area, so I figured I'd stop by and see what new things you two have come up with. I like the smoke cannons.” Harry said, gesturing to the red button on the wall.
The twins shot eachother glances at Harry being ‘in the area’, but said nothing.
“Well, we’re glad to see you! Come along, we’ve got all sorts of things to show you! We can even show you some prototypes.” Fred said, lightly grabbing Harry’s arm and dragging him through the slowly-dissipating smoke clouds.
“So, when did you get this snake friend of yours?” Fred asked, looking at her. Ambrosia stared right back, her red eyes slightly narrowed.
“Oh! I just got her earlier today! Her name is Ambrosia. I'm not sure what breed she is, but I don't think she’s a muggle breed.” Harry said. He was going to mention the ‘mist’ or whatever Ambrosia saw around him, but he didn't want to worry the twins.
Fred and George nodded, asking a few more questions about Ambrosia as the two of them dragged Harry to the workshop in the back of the store.
Once in the workshop, Harry walked around, amazed at all the products they had in-the-works.
“All of this is so cool! Are you guys going to be expanding the shop? There’s so much here!” Harry said, his eyebrows raised.
He leaned down and looked at one of the products, knowing he should look and not touch for the sake of keeping his own fingers attached.
Whatever the product was sprung open, and a little toy snake appeared, slithered around the desk, and then went back into the box.
“Oh, you’ve found the pre-sorter! It magically detects your attributes and shows what house you could be sorted into! We’re still working on it changing to the houses though, we’ve got one for each house right now and we plan to combine them all into one.” Fred explained, lightly tapping the slytherin one with his wand.
“It’s mainly for any first years that might stop in, but merlin knows who will actually buy it.” George said, walking over.
“That's so interesting. You guys are working to mimic the sorting hat’s magic? That takes a lot of talent.” Harry said, smiling at the two.
“We’re certainly trying! It’s probably going to take a while to get it perfect, though.” Fred said, reaching up and ruffling Harry’s hair.
Harry made a mocking noise of offense. “My hair is already messy, come on!” He said, causing the twins to laugh.
Harry observed the work in progress items for a few more minutes, before he felt the portkey in his pocket begin to vibrate a bit.
He wasn't given a time limit, but the magic itself was probably getting antsy to be used.
“Oh. I have to go soon, and I did want to buy some things.” Harry said, walking to the door of the workshop.
“Where do you need to go?” George asked, following behind Harry as he walked out.
Harry wasn't sure how to answer that. Should he tell the truth? But. The truth would just make his plans fail.
“I ah.. need to get back to thee. Dursleys. They don't know I'm here.” Harry said. And well, it 𝘸𝘢𝘴 true. They didn't know he was here.
George frowned, looking at Fred, but neither of them said a word.
Harry finished up buying his things, waving at the twins as he headed for the door.
“Bye Harry! Have a good year at hogwarts!” The twins said at the same time, waving back enthusiastically.
Harry winced and tried to stop the emotions from showing on his face, nodding at them. “I’ll try!” And with that he was out the door. He walked to a side alleyway, putting a hand on Ambrosia to make sure she would be okay when he used the portkey.
He was sure Hedwig would be able to find him, and if not, he might be able to send the apparent house-elf to find her.
Harry reached into his pocket and tapped the portkey twice, and he was quickly teleported away from Diagon alley- away from the greater wizarding world if he was lucky.