"What do you mean?" Harry didn't think it was all too unusual to pay Colin for the photos.
"Ahem. From today's newspaper... 'Potter's Golden Victory: Did He Buy His Way to Victory?' by Rita Skeeter."
"Stop... I've had enough of that woman," Harry growled. Hermione looked ashamed, but said nothing.
"Just thought you'd like to know. Who would be crazy enough to buy all the gillyweed in Britain just to stop Cedric from getting some?"
"Well, not me. The apothecaries don't store much of it because it doesn't keep very well and it's not a popular potion ingredient anyway. I couldn't even find any in Britain myself when I shopped around, I had to order it from Africa. Please tell me you two aren't going to believe Skeeter over me..."
"Harry, mate, we're not like Ron. We're here on business."
"What kind of business?" The twins had never approached him before, other than to try to sell him their new products.
"Advising."
"Consulting."
"Research."
"Alright, what are you two actually up to?" Hermione asked, crossing her arms.
"We think we can help Harry out, for a small favour in exchange."
"What exactly are you offering? And why do you need the extra money? I thought your Weasley Wheeze business was doing pretty well." Harry was starting to think that this in itself was a prank.
"We're offering our expertise and our products, of course! We'd just like you to... mention our names while you're on stage. Give us a little advertising."
"I don't think Harry's going to be able to prank Krum off the duelling platform," Hermione said dryly.
"Hermione, despite our being the geniuses that we are..."
"...handsome geniuses."
"Thank you, dear brother. The handsome geniuses before you don't always get our prank products right on our first try."
"Or our second."
"We have a rather large stockpile of unused prank products that are... unsuitable for public sale."
"Wait... you're telling me you're going to sell me a bunch of... broken prank products?" Harry asked in disbelief.
"Oh, no, dear Harry. Most of these products we have are unsaleable because they're too potent."
"Although you might be able to make use of a few of our regular products as well."
"Fine, I'll have a look. This had better be good, guys."
They stepped into one of the many unused classrooms in Hogwarts, but this one had several workbenches, a brewing area, and a small cot. Half the room didn't have any furnishings at all, but appeared to be a test area. It was covered in scorch marks; some of the walls were stained in several places and it looked like some parts of the floor had melted and re-solidified.
"Welcome to the Weasley Wizarding Wheezes Workshop!" Fred announced proudly. He went to the back and opened up a storage cabinet.
"These are some of the products that are safe enough that they won't explode on the shelf by themselves, but if you used them improperly, you'd be in St. Mungo's for a week."
"And we do want repeat customers, so we couldn't have anyone killing themselves with our products."
"Not the best for business, mind you."
"Yeah, customers can't tell their friends how fantastic your products are if they're six feet under."
"So take a look, Harry. Just be careful."
Harry didn't move and just stared at the junk in the cabinet. He didn't want to lose his hand by accident or something.
"It's perfectly safe, Harry. Fine, here's one you've used before. It was our... second attempt at the Bursting Beastie."
Harry took the small package from them. It did look about the same as the one he'd used the night the twins made their attempt on the cup. He held it up as usual. Fred (or was it George?) leapt out of the way.
"Crikey, Harry, warn me before you do that, would you?" Harry was baffled by his reaction.
"Fine... I'm pulling the string now, alright?" Harry tugged on the string at the end of the device. Instead of a small little dragon that shot out, this time it was a monstrous, tiger-shaped ball of sparks. The tiger disappeared in less than a second, but it continued as a massive bundle of sparks that hit the opposite end of the room with a loud bang, adding a new singe mark.
"You like it?" The twins asked.
"Yeah... as long as I don't blow my own legs off with these in my pockets."
"Well, we think we can make them that powerful, and still keep the beastie shape now that we've had more experience. It should be able to chase down whoever you point it at," George said, grinning.
"Then again, if you just need a good old explosion, look no further than our Wildfire Whiz-bangs..."
Harry had just found himself something to work on in his spare time. The twins had a rudimentary knowledge of permanent charms and used them to enchant some of their devices. Harry quickly learned how to do it as well, and even threw in a few of the basic runes he'd learned to increase the effects or make them last longer. He made good use of the twins' shield hat, which had a semi-permanent (but weak) protego enchanted to it, which would last until the first spell cast upon it. The twins had shelved the idea because a one-use shield hat wasn't going to sell very well. Harry threw in a charging rune and instantly made the shield capable of recharging from the wearer's magic. They quickly moved on to charming nearly every piece of clothing they could, figuring that would make up the bulk of Harry's defensive capabilities.
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