A Little Help from a Snake // Tomarry

Part 68

"Fuck me," Tom groaned just as Fred opened the door, beaming.

"Sorry, but you're not my type," Fred said cheerfully. "Welcome! You got our letter?"

"We did. Full moon's keeping Remus in bed, Barty lost a bet to Azure, and Bella's keeping him company."

"Hm." Fred didn't look as if he really cared much for Barty or Bella, but he wasn't about to voice this.

Harry glanced back at the poster. "That poster — it's brilliant, by the way."

"Why, thank you, Harry. George came up with it. Come on in, all of you."

The shop was so tightly packed with customers Harry couldn't get near the shelves, but he could see that the twins were already doing very well. The Skiving Snackboxes were especially popular; several people were inspecting the boxes of Nosebleed Nougat with particular interest.

George arrived, and Tom pointed at him accusingly.

"Fred said you're the one who made the U-No-Poo."

"I sure did. Why?" George asked, grinning proudly.

"Because it's clever and I hate it," Tom muttered.

"Whoa, Tom, you look constipated," Harry said. "Guess we know what product not to get for you."

"I — you little..." Tom trailed off, swearing in Parseltongue.

"Watch your language, Riddle. There are ladies present," Harry said, gesturing to Hermione, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley, all of whom were huddled around a cage.

Sirius went to join them to see what looked like small balls of pink and purple fluff rolling around inside.

"Pygmy Puffs," George explained. "Miniature puffskeins, we can't breed them fast enough."

"They're really cute!" Ginny said. "Mum, can we get one?"

As Mrs. Weasley pondered over getting one or not, Harry, Tom and Sirius wandered off to explore the rest of the shop.

"'Patented Daydream Charms...'" Sirius read, trailing off as he skimmed the description on the back. "Ingenious!"

George sniffed, wiping away an imaginary tear. "That means so much, coming from a Marauder. What would Moony think?"

"He'd agree. And so would Prongs," Sirius said, and George clutched his chest as if overwhelmed.

"George? Fred? What are these?" Ginny had reappeared, holding a pink product.

"Love potion," said Fred proudly.

Harry felt Tom stiffen beside him. Ginny eyed the product with equal wariness. "And it works?"

"Certainly it work," Fred answered, "for up to twenty-four hours at a time depending on the weight of the boy in question —"

"— and the attractiveness of the girl," George added. "But we're not selling them to our sister."

Ginny's expression had become closed off. "I don't think you should be selling them to anyone, actually!" she said harshly before pushing her way back toward the front. She slammed the product back in its place with such force it made the witches nearby jump.

The twins exchanged bewildered glances. "What was that all about?"

"Dumbledore had her under a compulsion, remember?" Harry said. "It worked like a love potion."

The twins winced.

"Damn!" muttered George, looking back toward Ginny guiltily. "That was kind of dumb of us."