I wish it wasn't true
But the whole world's tryin' to get a piece of you
And my heart keeps fighting in this battle of fools
Gotta make it through, gotta make it through
In the middle of the night when the wolves come out
Headed straight for your heart like a bullet in the dark
One by one, I try to take them down
But you run and hide, ain't goin' down without a fight

"Wolves"
One Direction

~

LUCY:

I'll admit I cried watching Henry depart alone in his boat.

I hid myself in the trees, Harry standing behind me with a reassuring hand on my shoulder as the tears coursed down my cheeks. Once he reached the other shore, though, I pulled myself together.

I had talked to Professor McGonagall the day after I had pieced together that Henry and George had something going on and asked if the twins could attend the graduation as guests rather than as graduates, and she readily agreed. I sent a letter to the joke shop right away, a massive smile on my face. Ginny had mentioned to me that George had been the one to heal Henry in the Department of Mysteries, and I had noticed somewhere in the back of my mind how close together they were standing when I had arrived in Professor McGonagall's office. And Fred deserved to be there to support Angelina too, of course.

It was perfect, really, because the twins being back at school for the morning gave us the chance to talk about summer in more detail, since they'd been living on their own for a couple of months at that point and had a better idea of what summer would look like. So, once I'd stopped crying and dried my face, I started heading to the castle with Harry. The twins said they'd wait for me in one of the secret passages, so the three of us squeezed ourselves into the dark and put up a couple of silencing charms just to be safe.

They explained the basics, starting with how the moons would go. They said they had constructed a special room with a lot of help from Remus and Alastor, so it would be perfectly safe. I was nervous about it all, but they assured me repeatedly that they had taken every possible precaution and that this was the best way of going about it. They quickly distracted me, though, with talk of working in the shop and everything that would entail. Once I had been satisfactorily debriefed, we all got to our feet.

"See you in a matter of hours, Cub!" Fred chirped as he swept me up into his second bone-crushing hug of the day. The instant he had seen me that morning, he had rushed forward and hugged me tight as he apologized over and over again for not being able to see me after the whole Department of Mysteries ordeal because he was helping the Order. I had assured him it was okay, but he clearly still regretted the way everything had worked out, as evidenced by the way he drummed his fingers against my knee throughout the entire graduation ceremony and hugged me so fiercely, as if he was touching me to remind himself that I was there and I was okay.

As rattled as Fred was by the whole ordeal, George was even more so. He hugged me much more gently, held me longer, let go more reluctantly. He smiled, though, brave as he knew how. "See you soon, Cub."

I grinned, genuine excitement fueling the atrophied muscles the action required. "Can't wait."

When the twins had departed, I found Harry again, and we made our way back to our hill for one last time that school year. We didn't say anything, just enjoying the peace and quiet, and the company.

~

The last night at school ended the same way it always did: the two of us, the last ones awake, in front of the common room fireplace.

It was even later than usual — on our way down to the feast, we saw that Luna was looking for possessions that her fellow Ravenclaws had stolen over the course of the year. She insisted that she didn't want help, but Harry and I didn't particularly want to go to the feast, so the three of us searched the castle until found everything. Luna was perfect company, really. She seemed to think that the voices in the veil we heard at the Department of Mysteries belonged to the people we had loved and lost.

"D'you think Luna's right?" I asked. "About the veil?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. Everything about that place was strange. I doubt anyone knows."

"I know, but... what do you hope?"

"I hope she's right," he whispered, staring into the fire with glassy eyes. "I hope Sirius is with..." He swallowed and blinked before turning to me. "What do you hope, Lu?"

Something warm stirred deep in my soul at the way the old nickname rolled so easily off his tongue. I wondered if he even remembered that he'd learned it from Cedric.

"I hope Sirius is with your parents again too," I said softly, "but I hope they're in a better place than that veil. I hope — I hope everyone we've lost is in the stars."

"So they can look down and watch us?" Harry asked.

I considered this for a moment before shaking my head. "No. I hope they're not watching. They'd be hurting, watching us hurting and not being able to help. No, I hope they're in the stars on a great adventure, so we have stories to tell each other when we see each other again."

"D'you think we will?" Harry's voice was fragile, on the verge of breaking.

I nodded. "I know we will." I reached out and intertwined my fingers with his. "Until then, though, we have each other, and a story of our own to write."

~

The train ride back was quite eventful, because Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle decided to try to take revenge on Harry for what Professor Snape had stopped a few days prior. Unfortunately for those three, however, they tried to attack him in front of a compartment containing Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Anthony Goldstein, and Terry Boot. And then of course, when I saw the flashes of spellfire out of the corner of my eye, I raced to check it out with Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Archie, and Luna on my heels. And then of course Cam rushed over with Lavender and the Patil twins. And then of course the Creevey brothers came running too. Needless to say, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were sufficiently hexed and jinxed.

After that excitement, we returned to our compartment. Since everyone in that compartment knew I was a werewolf and that the full moon was that night, I could sit behind a silencing charm — hence why I saw the spellfire instead of hearing it — and periodically pop a hypothermia candy. Harry sat with me behind the silencing charm as we watched the world roll along outside the window. Neither of us minded the excuse to be alone together, untouchable for the time being. The world would catch up to us soon enough, with Harry returning to the Dursleys and my transformation looming, but behind that silencing charm, in a compartment with our friends that we had trained well enough in combat to take the Department of Mysteries by storm, we were safe, and we were okay, and we were alone together, and we were untouchable, however temporarily.

In time, the train slowed to a stop and we all gathered our belongings. Neville, Archie, and Luna each hugged me gently and wished me luck with the transformation before they left, and Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Harry formed something of a loose protective bubble around me as we got off the train. They were all still disturbed by the werewolf comment Bellatrix had made, for a different reason than the others, and they hovered nearby accordingly as we shuffled through the crowds.

When we crossed from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters onto the Muggle platform, we were greeted by quite a crowd.

"Cub!" Fred cheered as he rushed forward and scooped me up, smashing my face into a jacket with a horrific texture as he spun me in a circle.

"Easy, Freddie, Merlin," George chided his twin as he tugged lightly on my ponytail and offered me a smile. "How are you doing?"

I dodged his question with one of my own. "What the bloody hell are you wearing?"

"I was wondering the same," Ron echoed as he wrinkled his nose.

"Finest dragon skin! Business is booming and we thought we'd treat ourselves. Why Cub, do you want one too? We can make it part of the uniform."

Ron and I exchanged a look, biting our lips together to keep ourselves from laughing. I looked around at everyone else who had come to pick us up and walked over to Harry's side.

"Hi there, Harry, Lucy," Remus said with a nod and a small, sad smile for each of us.

"Hi. I — we didn't expect... what are you all doing here?" Harry asked.

"Well, we thought we might have a little chat with your aunt and uncle before letting them take you home."

Harry's eyes widened as he shot a panicked look at me. "I don't know if that's a good idea—"

"Oh, I think it is," Alastor interrupted.

"In a minute, perhaps," Remus said, picking up on his unease. He glanced at me meaningfully — seeming to say Reassure him, please — before going to greet Hermione and leaving the two of us alone.

"If anything goes wrong, let me know and I'll send the whole Order after you," I said with a half-hearted smile.

"You said the twins have a plan for tonight?" Harry asked, urgency lacing his tone.

I nodded. "I'll be alright. I'll write in the morning." I narrowed my eyes. I meant it to come off as teasing, but I knew we were both thinking of the nightmare that had been the summer of 1995. "You'll write me back, yeah?"

"Of course." He nodded. "Of course." He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me. "Of course." He buried his head against my neck and I squeezed tighter in response. "Of course. Of course."

"It won't be like last summer," I whispered.

"I know."

"You'll be okay."

"So will you." He pulled away, goofy grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Merlin, so will you. Two months with Tweedledee and Tweedledum."

"I think we're supposed to be insulted, but quite frankly we have no idea what that means," Fred piped up from behind me.

George twisted my ponytail around his finger a couple of times before tossing it over my shoulder. "We'll take good care of her, mate. Take care of yourself too, and let us know if you need another jailbreak."

Harry snorted. "Thanks. The sooner the better."

"Well, let's start by threatening the evil sons of banshees," Fred suggested.

"Jailbreak is still absolutely on the table, though, so don't be shy," George said.

I offered Harry a sympathetic grimace. "Can't hurt to try. It might be nice to get away from everything for a while."

Even as I spoke, I saw families out of the corner of my eye glancing our direction. Harry Potter and Lucy Diggory. Menaces to the wizarding world. Harry noticed this too and eventually nodded, walking with his head down in the direction of the Dursleys.

"If you want to practice a bit of your wandless magic on the pricks, we'll take the blame," George whispered in my ear.

"Credit, you mean?" I retorted.

Fred grinned. "That's our girl."

Harry's shoulders stiffened ever so slightly — he'd just made eye contact with his uncle. I stepped forward until Harry and I were standing side-by-side, and I offered his aunt and uncle my finest glare. I smirked when they both staggered backward a step. My scars had their perks on occasion.

Mr. Weasley jogged over to us, a remarkably pleasant smile on his face. "Good afternoon! You might remember me, my name's Arthur Weasley. We thought we'd just have a few words with you about Harry."

"Yeah, about how he's treated when he's at your place," Alastor added, a bowler hat covering his magical eye.

Harry's uncle glared at Moody. "I am not aware that it is any of your business what goes on in my house—"

"I expect what you're not aware of would fill several books, Dursley," he snapped.

Tonks stifled a laugh as she joined the conversation. "While that is true, that's not the point. The point is, if we find out you've been horrible to Harry—"

"—and make no mistake, we'll hear about it," Remus said.

"Yes, even if you won't let Harry use the fellytone," Mr. Weasley added.

"Yeah, if we get any hint that Potter's been mistreated in any way, you'll have us to answer to," Alastor finished.

He puffed up and asked in an unnecessarily loud voice, "Are you threatening me, sir?"

"Yes, I am," Moody said with a grin.

"We are," I said. I stepped closer and lowered my voice to a stage whisper, speaking dramatically behind my hand as I grinned from ear to ear. "Between you and me, I've watched this lot send people far more intimidating than you flying through the air for so much as looking at Harry the wrong way. You ought to be careful." Harry's uncle attempted to backhand me, but I caught his wrist without breaking eye contact and tightened my grip until I felt his pulse racing beneath my fingers. I dropped my smile and returned to a furious glare. "You try that with him, and you won't live to see one more I Love Lucy rerun."

Hermione snorted the loudest of everyone as I dropped his wrist and made a show of scrubbing my hand against my trousers, trying to rid myself of his filth.

"I wouldn't mess with that one," Tonks piped up.

Alastor grunted his agreement. "My ward means business."

"Do I look like the kind of man who can be intimidated?" Harry's uncle blustered, clearly trying to recover from the humiliation of being stopped mid-swing by an adolescent girl.

Alastor tipped his hat in response, giving the Dursleys a good long look at his magical eye. All three stumbled backward, and Alastor grinned as he dropped it back into place. "Yes, I'd have to say you do, Dursley." He turned to Harry. "So, Potter, give us a shout if you need us. If we don't hear from you for three days in a row, we'll send someone along. Bye then, Potter."

I hung back as everyone else said their goodbyes, then I rushed forward and latched myself onto Harry in the tightest hug I could manage. He hugged me back equally hard, trembling.

"Be safe," he whispered in a voice he knew only I could hear. "Write me when you can."

I nodded. "You too."

The words I love you were on the tip of my tongue, but I got the feeling he knew that anyway.

We let each other go after another long moment, and everyone watched as Harry left with his aunt and uncle and cousin.

"Lovely people," Fred quipped. "His cousin's tongue looks a little too small though, if you ask me."

George studied me with an expression somewhere between wonder and concern. "How'd you stop that backhand, Cub? We were all about to tackle him when you just... caught his hand."

I shrugged. "I figured it was coming. I happened to be right. Anyway." I grinned, realizing that summer had finally arrived. Sure, the full moon was that night and I wasn't feeling that great, but summer had finally arrived and it was beginning to sink in. I noticed that Archie and his parents were walking past, so I said in a louder voice, "I think I'm quite ready to go on another journey."

Archie whirled around with a grin on his face. "Nice Lord of the Rings reference! See you later, Diggory and gang! Stay out of trouble!"

Everyone waved and said a variation of goodbye to Archie before turning to me.

Hermione approached first and hugged me close. "Be careful."

I nodded, then pulled away to accept the hug from Ron that was coming in my direction. He held me even tighter, leaving the "Be safe" unspoken but understood regardless. Ginny pried her brother off and held me tightest of all, shaking almost as violently as Harry was.

"Don't do anything stupid without me," she said as she let me go.

"Of course not," I replied. I smiled. "It's much more fun doing something stupid with you."

She snorted. "You know what I meant, and that's not funny."

"Neither are your jokes, but I usually laugh at those anyway," I retorted.

"Oh, you—" Ginny jumped forward and hugged me again playfully, whispering, "Be safe. I swear to Merlin if you do anything stupid like get yourself hurt, I will burn the joke shop to the ground."

I laughed and shook my head. "Yeah, yeah, I love you too."

She smiled at me as she pulled away. "I know. Alright, enough of this sappy goodbye business, get going already!"

"Two steps ahead of you, Gin," George said.

Two hands descended on my shoulders as the twins stepped behind me, George on my right and Fred on my left. They pulled me back until we were hidden from the view of any Muggles, and the station around us was suddenly replaced by an unfamiliar hallway.

My trunk landed on the floor with a thud.

Another journey had officially begun.

~

"Alright, so to recap," I said, standing in the middle of my room and counting off each piece of information on my fingers. "One, the Trace is tied to the wand when you are in known magical areas, so I can perform magic here as long as it's wandless. That's why my wand will live at the bottom of my trunk over summer, just to make sure I don't use it on accident out of habit. I cannot, however, perform magic of any kind in Muggle areas because any unexpected magic in any Muggle area is blamed on the nearest underage potential magic-user, which is why Harry was blamed for Dobby's use of magic four years ago and why the Trace was activated when I used someone else's wand to escape the cave last year. Two, the transformation room has two layers of magically-sealed doors to keep me inside, and werewolf-specific wards from St. Mungo's have been applied to the room as well as the entire flat, so everything will be perfectly safe as long as I don't bite either of you, which you've assured me is impossible because you've taken your own precautions which I am assuming is special warding on your bedrooms. Three, I need to cover up my scars whenever I'm not in this flat or at the Burrow because the majority of Death Eaters recognize me by those and being in public these days is enough of a risk for me. Four, you two are Order members now, so other Order members might unexpectedly stop by and I should not be alarmed if or when that happens." I cocked my head, thinking. "Anything else?"

"Five," Fred piped up, "try to keep the lovey eyes directed at Harry to a minimum when you're on the clock unless you're standing near the love potions display, in which case you can stare at anyone you want as lovingly as you want for as long as you want because then customers will be convinced that they work."

I swatted him, rolling my eyes. "Shut up, Fred. Anything else?"

George smiled. "Six, we're so glad you're here, Cub. Tomorrow will be much more fun than tonight, I promise, but for now, we should go."

"Uh — we?" I blinked. "No, I should go."

"C'mon, c'mon." Fred gestured for me to follow him. "We're going to show you the room."

"You've already shown me — what is going on?" I asked as I rushed down the hall to get to the door first. I blocked it with my body and looked back and forth between the twins. "What's this 'we' business?"

"Nothing, Cub, it's okay," George assured me. He grinned. "See you soon."

I bit my lip and nodded. "Alright. See you two in the morning."

Fred smiled. "See you soon!"

I thought it was odd that they both said "soon" instead of "in the morning," but I didn't have time to argue. I needed to go.

I passed through the first door, then the second. The room was well-padded, almost like the Room of Requirement. I curled up into a ball on the floor and closed my eyes, waiting, breathing.

In. I won't hurt anyone tonight. Out.

In. Tomorrow will be great. Out.

In. Summer with the twins will be amazing. Out.

In. Everything will be okay. Out.

In. I'll write Harry in the morning and tell him everything went well. Out.

And with that, the transformation began, and reality as I knew it warped around me.

Just before the wolf seized total control, however, I heard the strangest flapping noise.

~

I was jolted back to reality in the morning with one last scream, and I looked around wildly for a second.

"What the—"

Before I could even finish my question, the twins were hovering above me.

"Are you alright, Cub?"

"We just tired you out, right? Didn't hurt you or anything?"

I blinked, the night coming back to me in a rush. A dog and a hyena. We played together all night. "You're Animagi too. That's why you were acting so cagey last night." I shot up to a sitting position, nearly breaking both of their noses as I did so. "You're Animagi? But it's such a dangerous process, why would you — what the—"

"Yeah, she's alright."

"C'mon, Cub, up you get."

They each grabbed one of my hands and tugged me to my feet.

I shook my head to clear the stars, trying to force myself to focus in my exhausted state. "Are you legal?"

The twins immediately started laughing. Loudly.

"We don't have to talk about this right now," George said, chuckling.

Fred patted my shoulder. "How about you go get ready for your first day of work and we'll get the wideye potion ready in the kitchen?"

"But—"

"Lucy," they said in unison, playfully shoving me toward the door.

I sighed. "Fine."

I was halfway down the hallway when a voice stopped me.

It was Fred. "Lucy?"

I turned around. The twins were both poking their heads out of the doorway.

"You're really alright?" George asked.

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I'm really alright."

They both grinned. "Brilliant," they replied in unison before ducking out of sight.

I sighed again as I trudged to my bedroom. I fished my diary and a quill out of my trunk to write to Harry.

Those bastards are Animagi. Don't worry about me, I'm alright, not hurt at all. I'll write you later!

Harry properly updated, I made my way to the shower, taking inventory of how I was feeling. I wasn't as cold as always, which was nice, but I was far more tired than usual, which was not. But I wasn't hurt, and neither were the twins, and that was what really mattered.

The shower was refreshing, and as the hot water washed away a few of the aches of the transformation, it cleared the fog from my post-moon mind.

It was summer. Finally. Finally finally finally.

No Umbridge. No O.W.L.s. No Malfoy. Nobody expecting me to be like Cedric.

George. Fred. Joke shop. Wandless magic. And Harry, soon enough.

In Fred's letter to me from a month earlier, he had said something about "ridiculous and risky but fun and foundational life experiences." I couldn't wait to find out exactly what that meant.

I emerged from the shower more energized, my excitement having chased away a bit of my exhaustion. I returned to my bedroom wrapped in a towel and found a number of bright clothing items displayed on my bed.

Upon closer inspection, I saw that my uniform consisted of a sky blue button-up shirt with matching sky blue trousers, a purple vest, and an orange tie. There were both long-sleeved and short-sleeved button-ups, which would come in handy as I navigated the lunar cycle.

"Thank Merlin those boys don't want me in a skirt all summer," I muttered to myself as I closed the door behind me and started getting dressed. "I'd cry."

On the floor next to my bed, I saw three pairs of shoes (one pair in each color) and six pairs of socks (two pairs in each color) with a note saying to "mix and match" as I saw fit. So, I donned two orange socks and two purple shoes, then returned to the bathroom to hang up my towel and finish getting ready for the day.

Thankfully, I'd paid close attention to how Lavender and Parvati had prepared me for the Yule Ball, so I applied concealer to every bit of my exposed skin and charmed it accordingly (without my wand, of course) so it wouldn't rub off. I opted for the long-sleeved button-up that day, only partially because I was still a little cold. Ginny would give me grief for not going with the short sleeves — "You shouldn't be insecure about your scars anyway, but you're covering those anyway so why not show a little skin?" — but Ginny wasn't there and it was my first day. I had a whole summer to get over myself.

I studied myself in the mirror as I brushed my hair, unsure of what I should do with it. Doing a ponytail just felt too dull for the joke shop. So, instead, I divided my hair down the center and Dutch braided each part. It was something of a compromise between the braids I had worn for so long, before Cedric had died, and the single Dutch braid I always wore during Quidditch, before and after Cedric had died. I tied each off with a sparkly sky blue hair tie, deciding I looked appropriately whimsical.

I smiled. Summer was going to be great. I felt great. Tired — but the wideye potion would chase that away.

Despite my exhaustion, I descended the stairs with a spring in my step and landed in the kitchen with a cheerful little hop.

"So, wideye potion, you said?" I asked.

Fred started cracking up. "Nice socks. The uniform fits?"

I nodded. "Perfectly."

"Brilliant," George said with a grin. He tossed me a flask. "You can just keep that on your hip and drink from it as needed. There should be enough in there to last the day, but you can come back up here and get more whenever."

"A hip flask? I'll look like Mad-Eye Moody," I said.

"Not in that uniform you won't!" Fred cackled.

For the first time, I noticed their uniforms, which were the same colors as mine in different arrangements. Fred had an orange button-up and orange trousers, a sky blue tie, and a purple vest, and George had a purple button-up and purple trousers, an orange tie, and a sky blue vest.

I grinned. "Let me guess. Blue for me, purple and orange for you two?"

"Yep!" Fred replied brightly. "I'm orange, he's purple."

"And the horrific dragon skin you were wearing yesterday factors in how exactly?"

George nodded at the flask still in my hand. "It was Fred's idea, since we knew about the plan to talk to Harry's aunt and uncle. Figured it would intimidate them a bit. Go on, take a swig, you look tired."

I did, then immediately recoiled.

"WHOA, WHOA, WHOA, WHOA." I squinted into the flask. "WHAT WAS THAT? ARE YOU TRYING TO POISON ME?"

The twins were too busy laughing and smacking each other to answer me for several seconds.

"I told you!" George shouted between bouts of laughter.

"I thought she'd be too tired to notice!" Fred shouted back, swatting George on the arm.

"Oh, I noticed," I said as I made my disgusted face as dramatic as possible. "What was that?"

"Just coffee, Cub, not poison," George said, still laughing.

"It might as well be poison, tasting like that! You mean to tell me people drink that willingly?" I asked, in utter disbelief.

"Oh yeah. Well, if you aren't going to finish that—" Fred jumped to his feet and nicked the flask from my hand, taking a swig before speaking again. He reached for another one on the counter behind me and placed it in my hand. "George expected this, so here's another one of wideye potion."

I sniffed the flask suspiciously, then reluctantly took a sip. "Alright. Bloody hell, I don't know how you're getting through that coffee without gagging and choking and dying."

"We could say the same about that bloody wideye potion you drink every month," George said as he reached for his own coffee cup.

"That's monthly!" I protested. "And I've done it for years now! People drink coffee daily to function!"

"People are weird," Fred replied with a shrug, "and we are 'people.'"

George stared into his cup thoughtfully. "I do prefer mine with mint, though, and Fred prefers his with cinnamon. Maybe we should try adding something to yours to make it more tolerable. Drinking coffee would attract less attention than needing to rely on wideye potion every month."

Something in the air shifted. Right. The stakes of people learning my secret had never been higher. It was sheer luck that Archie and Henry and Neville and Luna were so accepting of me — I might not have been that lucky if my secret had been spilled around different people, the results might have been catastrophic. And Death Eaters knew my secret, with or without actually knowing me. George was right. If a Death Eater in disguise happened to wander into the shop and happened to figure out that I was drinking wideye potion for a couple of days after a full moon and put two and two together...

I was jerked from my thoughts by Fred sighing dramatically. "We shall convert you to the coffee cult eventually, Cub. We have all summer to find something that makes it drinkable for you."

Right. Summer. ALL summer.

The air shifted back to normal.

"I like the sound of that," I said with a grin. "And by 'that,' I mean 'all summer.' Good luck finding something that makes that drinkable. I think I'd rather squeeze the grease out of Snape's hair and drink it than touch coffee again."

The twins both spit out the mouthfuls of coffee they had just consumed.

"You don't mean that," George spluttered.

"That could be arranged," Fred added, coughing. "Snape's an Order member. You better take that back before we get any ideas."

"You better find something that makes coffee drinkable before I take matters into my own hands just to prove my point." I drew a long swig of wideye potion and made a point of smiling after I'd swallowed it. "Well, it's not like I enjoy the taste of wideye potion, but it's still better than coffee. So, shop tour?"

"Follow us," George said, downing the last contents of his coffee cup as Fred drained the rest of the coffee flask. "Since you'll be working behind the counter for the next couple of days, you won't need to know everything, but having a lay of the land would be helpful so you can send people in the right direction if they have questions."

Fred clamped a hand on my shoulder and steered me down the stairs. "We're obviously around too, if you need anything at all."

"Of course. Always just a shout away and ready to help with whatever you need, Cub," George added.

"Missed me, did you?" I asked with a grin.

"Is that even a question?" George replied.

My grin widened. "Guess not."

The stairs ended in the dimly-lit back room. Colorful boxes were piled high, littering the floor, spilling from shelves, even floating in midair.

"So this is the storeroom," George said.

"I gathered that." I blinked and looked around. "I love you both, I do, but this room is a disaster. How on earth do you find anything in here?"

"With the help of a well-placed accio and a little bit of luck, of course!" Fred answered.

"Alright. That's fair, I suppose. But what happens when a box is buried and summoning is causes an avalanche?"

"An explosion happens, usually."

"Bloody hell." I slapped a hand to my forehead. "I'm begging you, let me organize this. I'll stay back here today."

"No can do," George said. "Tomorrow, maybe, but not today."

"Why not?" I inquired.

"You really thought we wouldn't tell everyone it was your first day today and that they should come say hello?" Fred retorted.

I groaned. "Who's 'everyone?'"

"Don't you worry about that," George replied lightly, steering me through the room. "The tour must go on. So, in case you hadn't heard, Mr. Magpie himself, Henry Furls, got us Walkmans for our birthday, and we thought playing music in the shop would be a nice touch." We screeched to a halt at a table with two Walkmans. "We play Fred's on loop in the morning and mine in the afternoon. If you want to add yours to our repertoire, feel free, but it's alright if you'd rather keep it to yourself since we know those were all Cedric's favorite songs. Anyway, we cast a very specific form of sonorous on these that makes the music audible throughout the store without being deafening. We'll teach you."

I nodded. "Alright." I lifted the flask to my lips and sucked down another several sips of wideye potion. "Got it. What's next?"

Fred grinned. "Next is where the magic happens. The storefront. Just through that door over there, go on."

I took one more sip of wideye as I walked over. I wanted to remember how it felt to see the store for the first time through wide eyes, not sleep-deprived half-closed eyes. I holstered the flask and opened the door slowly.

An explosion of color greeted me. Whereas the back room was dark and crowded, the storefront was bright and spacious. Staircases wove throughout the store like red ribbons, each staircase leading to a unique display.

A comically large-headed human figure in a Hogwarts uniform was vomiting purple and green candies into a cauldron of Puking Pastilles.

Skiving Snackboxes of all kinds surrounded the Puking Pastilles, stacked high according to category of ailment.

The Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder was available by the handful, between the Decoy Detonators and Shield Hats.

I even spotted a section dedicated to Muggle magic tricks, with cards and ropes.

"This is incredible," I breathed, eyes still drinking everything in.

Massive balloons all bearing golden Ws filled the center of the shop, extending from floor to ceiling.

Boxes of fireworks were everywhere — everywhere — instead of being confined to just one section.

One wall featured a special green strip for testing out Sticky Trainers.

Above it all, an Umbridge figurine was on a unicycle, wheeling back and forth across a tightrope, shouting various Umbridge-isms like "I will have order!" and clearing its throat loudly.

"Boys, what the bloody hell is that pink display?" I asked warily.

"WonderWitch products, of course!" Fred replied. "Love potions, pimple vanishers, et cetera."

"A pink display?" I made a sound of disgust. "Umbridge pink? Besides, girls aren't the only ones who could get pimples or want love potions. Come on, boys."

"You're right, you're right," George conceded. "Merlin, see what happens when we're apart? We get the worst ideas without our common sense filter."

I grinned. "Well, here I am to sort you out. But bloody hell, this place is amazing."

"Want to see the best part?" Fred asked.

"Obviously."

"We don't leave fireworks exploding overnight for obvious reasons," George said, "but during store hours..."

Both twins lifted their wands, and the very air seemed to explode with light and color.

I smiled as sparks showered down around us. "Brilliant."

~

I'm glad you're okay! Have a fun day! I'm not terribly surprised that they're Animagi, honestly. What animals? Same as their patronus forms?

HARRY! I HAD THE BEST DAY!

I never thought I'd hear you say that after a full moon, but I'm glad for it!

The joke shop is absolutely incredible. I don't think I could do it justice describing it in words. You really have to see it for yourself. Oops, sorry, I completely missed your question earlier. Same as their patronus forms, yes, Fred is a hyena and George is a Rottweiler. He's significantly less scary than the one you described, though. They installed some sort of one-way Muggle "doggy door" on the door to the room so they could get in to be with me.

Hey, don't apologize, it's alright! That's hilarious, and a brilliant plan really. So what made today the best day ever?

Not the moon, first of all, but it was definitely one of the best moons I've had. The wolf saw two dogs in the same room and decided it was time to play, so we just wrestled all night. I think that must be why I'm so much more tired than usual, but they've brewed enough wideye to last me a week so I've been chugging that all day via a hip flask.

Like Moody?

THAT'S WHAT I SAID. But then Fred told me I didn't look like Moody in the shop uniform, which is fair. It's blue and purple and orange, but the most obnoxious shade of all three colors imaginable. The COLORS, Harry. The shop is just so BRIGHT, even without the fireworks constantly exploding overhead. The colors here make even the Great Hall on holidays look dull by comparison.

Anything red? Since that's our shared favorite color?

The fireworks boxes, mostly. I don't know, I'll investigate tomorrow, I'll send you a report of every red object I see. Tomorrow they're letting me organize the back room, thank Merlin.

You're excited about that?

It's such a mess, Harry. I'll show you a memory of it before and after I've had my way with it. It's a hazard. Two explosions happened in there today alone.

Not while you were in there, I hope?

No, Fred was the only one in there both times.

Meaning they were his fault? Never mind, don't answer that, of course they were.

Of course they were.

What did you do today, if you weren't organizing the back room?

I worked behind the counter collecting everyone's money. I really am tired, so the twins don't want me on the staircases until I've recovered from the full moon. They're a bit treacherous.

I can't imagine they'd be more treacherous than the Hogwarts staircases, and you manage just fine on those after a full moon.

Trust me, they are. They're everywhere. They're like snakes going through all of the levels of the store.

How many levels are there?

Three major floors, with a couple of small half-floors for certain products that need their own space. Then their flat is above the store, and it's two stories, but those stairs are normal.

How bloody tall is that building?

Very bloody tall. Anyway, I didn't mind working behind the counter today, a lot of Order members stopped by to say hi since the twins sent out an announcement that it was my first day of work. Henry and Angelina came too, along with a decent number of Hogwarts students in general who just so happened to be checking out the shop on their first day of summer. But enough about that, how was your day?

Nowhere near as eventful as yours.

Is everyone behaving well over there?

Well enough, yeah. I think they're spooked. I'm sure they'll go back to normal once the shock of being confronted wears off, but for now, it's bearable.

Let me know the second it isn't and I'll be there. With the twins, of course.

Sounds good. Thanks, Lucy. It's getting late, I know you must be tired. Good thing, bad thing?

Sure. You first.

Good thing, you're okay after the full moon. More okay than usual, even. Bad thing, I miss you already and I wish I could be there to witness you being so happy for myself.

Good thing, your aunt and uncle and cousin are behaving better than usual. Bad thing, I miss you already too and I wish I could just go jailbreak you right this second.

Your good thing wasn't the joke shop? Or, well, anything else about today?

You being okay is always my good thing. I noticed you did the same.

That I did. Good night, Lu.

Good night, Harry!