Before Harry had even arrived to Hogwarts, he had met part of the Weasley clan, namely, his best friend Ron. More or less, the redheaded family had practically adopted him into their family. They probably would have had it been possible. Even after his failed relationship with the youngest of the children, they seemed to still treat him like one of them. They certainly were the nicest family he had come across, even if he did see Percy still as slightly stuck up. Next to Ron, the next of the bunch that he was closest to was George. Despite this, it had been a while since he had stopped by the shop, the busyness of life catching up with him. Finally getting an evening off of work, and telling Hermione that he would come home later, Harry made his way to the shop, hoping to run into his old friend.

Stepping into the fun appearing shop, Harry began to curiously look around, picking up various objects that looked interesting, while avoiding others that looked questionable. The questionable objects definitely outweighed the interesting looking ones in his mind, though he was certain they were just as entertaining…to be used on someone else. Soon, this shop would be bustling with the kids from Hogwarts, knowing that most thoroughly enjoyed this shop and all that it had to offer. Of course, many also just really wanted to meet George, one of the infamous pranksters that Hogwarts had held. After a few brief moments of glancing at various objects, his eyes glanced around, looking for the familiar redheaded wizard to greet.

@george

George was fairly stressed with keeping the shop in order before the summer holidays began. As much as Ron agitated him he missed the little tosser and all the help he provided while being there. It had been years since he had left and George had tried just hiring others to help though it never worked out. It wasn’t the same as having family around. A good bit of the people experienced enough to help out didn’t seem to enjoy his constant testing of products on them—without their knowledge. But honestly how else would he know just how affective they would be if he didn’t get to see their natural reaction to it. He chuckled to himself remembering the time he had left out a bottle of lotion in the lavatory and one of his female associates had used a bit causing her hands to grow dark course hairs on her knuckles. She had been so upset that she had quit that day. George’s cackling and referring to her as ‘gorilla knuckles’ was probably not his greatest idea as her quitting involved a nice firm slap across his face.

One would think that would have made the red head more selective of who he pranked. That was laughable. It didn’t matter how old the Weasley became, not much had changed. He was still as passionate about his shop as he had been the moment he and his late twin began the business. He heard the door to the shop open and peeked over the railing on the second floor to see who his newest customer was when he saw Harry. He had missed the bloke terribly. He would have to give his old friend a proper welcome. George thought for a moment remembering he had a product in his office that was sure to make a nice ‘welcome home’ celebration. He quickly moved back to the railing and tossed the small item, watching as it exploded at Harry’s feet and emitted a loud scream. He was pleased to see the purple paint was a nice touch as it splattered everywhere about the store.

There were many days that Harry did find that he worried about his closest family, the Weasley’s. They were pureblood, and they had the purest of hearts. Not a single one of them had evil, even if Percy’s viewpoints were questionable at times. With everything going on, he knew that the family would probably be suffering shortly. Though, he supposed it was no secret that Arthur was obsessed with all things Muggle. Perhaps that has saved them this far along, though that really didn’t mean anything. It was only a matter of time before the Ministry made up some more lies, bringing the Weasley’s to trial on false claims. Merlin, they’d probably say that Arthur was infiltrating enemy camps, more or less, and that his obsession with Muggles was due to the fact that he wanted to destroy them all without them realizing it and that he was the worst of the bunch. Yes, that sounded pretty much like something the Ministry would do, Harry thought, shaking his head out of his thoughts.

Harry had been in the process of turning around to go in search of his old friend when he saw something moving at him. Even with his still near perfect reflexes from being a seeker and continuous lover of Quidditch, he was caught off guard and witnessed the little item explode at his feet. Immediately, Harry’s hands moved to cover his ears as a loud screech seemed to emit from the object, and purple paint had sprayed all over him and the store. Laughing in amusement, Harry slowly looked around until his eyes spotted the familiar redhead. His friend would never change out of his playful personality, something that was always much needed nowadays. No matter how old Harry got, he still found amusement in the pranks that were pulled, knowing that everyone needed a laugh. “Oi, grow up, will you?” he called out jokingly, shaking his head as purple paint dripped from his hair.

George laughed loudly as he watched Harry’s hands fly up to cover his ears. Harry of all people knew better. If the red head wasn’t in sight that typically meant he was plotting. With all of the crazy going on he couldn’t let up now. He had seen too many people walk through his shop looking a bit forlorn. No one that walked into Weasley Wizard Wheezes was allowed to exit without a laugh or a terrible case of the grumbles. That was just one of the many courtesies provided since the very beginning.

His laugh turned into a cackle when Harry started shaking the purple paint from his hair. ”I would grow up, but then you would look even more like a dwarfed goblin than you do already.” He joked taking the spiral staircase in stride down to the bottom floor to greet his old friend. ”By the way, you owe me three galleons.” George said in a serious tone as he pointed to the remnants of the product he had tossed at Harry’s feet. A smile broke through soon after as he took his wand and swept it over the mess in the surrounding area, though left Harry still covered in the obnoxiously loud paint, pun intended.

Harry should have known that if he were going to go visit a Weasley, particularly this Weasley, that he should have been prepared for something to happen. He should have gone in fully prepared, eyes wide as he sought out the redhead before the redhead found him. It wouldn’t matter how old they got, they would always resort to their joking manner, pranks being their way of communication and lightening up moods. With everything going on, all of the problems, and the war that was brewing, this would always be a place of enjoyment and good fun.

“Funny,” Harry grumbled jokingly, allowing an amused smirk to grow on his face as he started walking towards the redhead. “Better a goblin than an lanky troll,” he stated, eyebrows raising in George’s direction. “Put it on my tab,” the dark haired bloke replied, looking around at the mess of paint. Harry took out his own wand and cleaned up the mess of the product on himself as clearly, George wasn’t about to do that. “And here I thought it’d be a pleasure to see you again,” Harry joked, his mood already lightening and forgetting about the many issues he had to deal with.

This was absolutely needed. George had just recently had a nosy Ministry worker in his shope asking quite a few unnecessary questions about his family and business. It seemed like the Minister wasn’t the brightest bloke seeing as he sent people with no tact to perform ‘sneaky’ interrogations on those he felt needed to be sought out. His family had been through a-bloody-nough without all of this other mess. He had lost his twin fighting for what was right just to be treated like a suspect because of his blood status. The family in general had done so much, though they would never bring that up, and to be treated the way they were was a big smack in the face.

George shook his head with another chuckle. ”Oi! The ladies love this lanky troll you tosser.” He ran a hand through his messy hair pursing his lips as if posing for a magazine cover. This was long overdue. They were both adult now, not that any of them really had an opportunity to have a proper childhood without doom constantly lurking over their heads, but they would always need a bit of childish humor to keep things together. ”I could say the same. You are bloody boring and your reflexes are absolute rubbish.” He joked elbowing his friend in the ribs.

Harry briefly wondered how Ron was doing, having not heard from the bloke in quite some time. He supposed he was rather busy at the time, though knowing Ron, he would soon be receiving a letter with some type of token that he discovered. Of course, he would first have to decipher the messy handwriting, though it was getting easier…when grease marks or whatever nonsense wasn’t spilled onto it, smudging the already messy writing. If there was a list of people that Harry would create, not that he would ever waste his bloody time creating one, but if there was, George was definitely on that list. In a sense, Harry wished he could be as carefree as the redhead, finding fun and amusement in every situation. George certainly knew how to lighten tense moods…and frustrate the living daylights out of others, but that was expected.

“Ladies do love a lost cause,” Harry shot back, his face serious when speaking before letting out a chuckle. Harry shrugged at the bloke’s assessment, agreeing with it. It had been too long since he found himself on a broom for fun, far too busy with the way of life. He supposed that he should get out on a broom soon, to relish in the joy he used to feel. The freedom that came with being in the air, knowing that doom loomed nearby with just the wrong movement on the broom, provided such a great adrenaline rush that couldn’t be ignored. “Nothing a bit of pick-up Quidditch can’t solve…on both accounts. Ready to be swamped come school letting out?”

George knew this summer would be crazy, as was every summer now that he had no one to help him run the business. Sometimes he found it difficult to do a proper balance between being the fun loving bloke that everyone had grown up knowing, and the business man that had to be quite serious as bills obviously didn’t pay themselves. Business always did well no matter what part of the year it was, but summer was definitely his money maker. With new products to create and the stock he needed to build up his time would certainly be limited now. Maybe he really should actually try to hire someone to help properly. He had been having fun tormenting poor unsuspecting employees that ultimately quit because of his shenanigans, and he needed to put that to an end... Somehow.

"Hey at least I didn't marry Hermione. Honestly, how do you tolerate that woman? I swear the older she gets the more she takes pleasure in sucking the fun out of a bloody room faster than a..." George paused before a look of mock terror came over his face. "Blimey Harry, I think you married a bloody dementor." He said before bringing his hands up to his face as if to scream. He really wasn't sure what had been up with Hermione lately, but he almost preferred not to be around her those days. He liked to think it was stress that had turned her into an absolute nightmare and not that that was who she was now. "Can you even sit on a broom without falling off anymore?" He laughed heartily before giving a shrug. "I'm as ready as I'm going yo be I suppose. Bloody Ron running off on me... I swear he did that because of you and 'Mione." He added with a shake of his head.

At Hogwarts, one of Harry’s favorite memories was seeing the various pranks that the Weasley’s had planned out, no matter the victims. It was amusing to Harry even if he was amongst one of the victims, finding humor in anything. Some of their pranks were questionable and probably slightly dangerous. Life didn’t need to be serious all of the time, obviously. During Hogwarts, things had seemed to be always on the serious side with the Dark Lord looming, trying to gain his power again, succeeding for a brief stint of time. Humor was needed to keep everything balanced, realizing that life didn’t have to always be stressful. They could enjoy their days, even with the threat of darkness overtaking the world nearby. Now, with the threat of darkness coming into power again, Harry was comforted by this shop, knowing that it was alright to enjoy some of his days.

“Oi, did she stop by the house to scold you about the stuff you’re selling to our kids?” he asked, raising his eyebrows at George. “I told them that they can use your products as long as they don’t get caught,” Harry explained, smirking in amusement. They needed to have fun while they were young, able to enjoy their years at school without a wicked wizard trying to kill them. “She’s just stressed…not much has changed there,” Harry explained, shrugging slightly. Things had certainly been stressed as of late with everything going on. “I can still beat you on any broom, Weasley,” Harry pointed out, laughing. “Me and ‘Mione have been together for years. I hardly doubt that’s the reason. Where’s he at now anyways?”

George had missed the old days sans the war. He missed having Fred around. It felt like he would never get over that loss. For a time he still had support from his other siblings only for everyone to go their own separate ways to barely ever see each other anymore. It was a constant reminder that things had changed. Sure he had expected everyone to grow up and do their own thing, but he had always assumed that there would still be family dinners and laughter so loud it could raise the dead. That wasn’t the case and it was a bit of a downer.

”Yeah, she isn’t fond of the care packages I send them. Coming to my home was a bit overkill.” He said with a serious expression still slightly miffed that she couldn’t wait until he was at the shop to have a fit. ”I won’t be sending them things anymore. I don’t need any more house visits like that again.” He said with a chuckled before shaking his head at his old friend. ”Well you need to teach your little ankle biters how to be more discreet because apparently your one son has ‘Mione in a state over all of this.” He added. George was pretty sure that the stress was the main thing that had his friend’s wife in an irritated mood, but it was still aggravating in a way. ”To hell if I know where he’s at. He occasionally stops by the Burrow for an hour or so here and there but doesn’t really say much of anything about what he is up to.” He said with a shrug really wishing his brother would get himself pulled together soon.