Chapter 2 - A Disappointing Truth

1st of July 1996

Draco had no idea how he managed to slip away from the manor–and his hysterical mother–to come to Diagon Alley, but he couldn't help himself; he wanted–needed–to see them again. Only a few short weeks had passed since his most enjoyed birthday he'd ever had in recent memory, but it felt like ages ago. So much had happened in such a short time that Draco wanted to step away from it all and forget about it, even if it was just for a little while.

He found himself standing just outside the newly opened and brightly colored joke shop. The red-orange door was glaringly loud among the abnormally dingy alley shops peppered around him. He was just within arms reach of it, but he found himself stalling as he debated on if it was a good idea stepping through the threshold or not. The place was still packed with customers, and he already risked being seen enough before deciding to conceal himself under a disillusionment charm while he lingered outside Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Would he be noticed if he threaded himself in with the others? Would he even have a chance to see them amongst the chaos?

Draco decided he would wait until near closing, whenever that was. He could only hope it was at dusk and not some other obscure hour as he retreated back down the alley toward the quidditch shop instead.

When the time finally came for him to make his presence known, Draco's nerves were on overdrive again, the want to see the twins again was almost unbearable, but a small fear still held him back.

'What am I afraid of?'

Pushing through the door before he could think of the answer, Draco was met with a very quiet store once the strange doorbell stopped going off. The place was jam packed full of the Weasley brands. Some he recognized from confiscating them at Hogwarts, others he'd never seen before. There didn't seem to be a soul in sight as Draco was quickly lost in the sea of products. It was admirable to see their success all around him that it made him want to see the twins even more just to properly congratulate them.

Before he could see if they were around, a particular gadget caught his eye and he picked up one of the small, clear-wrapped disk looking objects. He rolled it between his fingers as he read the blurb on the display box.

The Tele-Snapper: With just a snap of the fingers you'll disappear! A skip or a hop, you'll reappear! Pop a jump or leap the room. To impress a friend or to dodge a rule - with just a snap you'll leave them fooled! Warning: Not recommended for use to pass through walls.

"It teleports you," Draco muttered to himself and looked at the shimmering disk again. "Those crafty little…"

"Brilliant little contraption, those are," someone from behind announced, effectively causing Draco to jump out of his skin.

His back was now pressed against the display as he found himself face-to-face with one of the twins looking back at him with a secretive smile gracing his features. He reached over Draco's shoulder and grabbed one of the Tele-Snappers from behind him. His fingers just missed brushing against the blond's cheek in the meantime. The gesture tinged Draco's entire face a light hue of pink.

"Care to give it a go?"

Draco's mind went completely blank at the question. Unable to respond, it took everything he had to not have his jaw go slack and fall open. When the ginger offered an opened Tele-Snapper to him did he give himself a mental shake to wake himself up. A fleeting thought had him wonder which twin this was. He had a feeling it was Fred based on the extreme measure he already took to make Draco feel awkward–yet breathless–at the same time.

"S-sure." Draco hoped the slight stutter went unnoticed as he accepted the disk.

"Just hold it between your fingers like so," the twin explained while showing Draco with his hand. "Make sure you have a general idea of where you want to go first, then just–" He gave a quick, loud snap of his own fingers to demonstrate.

Draco mimicked the action with very little thought; the snapping sound echoed throughout the store when the action was made. He went from the safety of the ground level to appearing onto one of the windy stair landings overhead. For some obscure reason this staircase only had railings on one side, so when Draco popped onto the landing he wasn't prepared to lose his balance and fall backwards into empty air where a rail should be.

Luckily for him someone securely grabbed him by the shoulder to prevent Draco from falling to his demise, or sustain a serious injury at the very least. Once he stabilized himself on the landing, Draco recomposed himself and addressed his redheaded savior.

"Thank you."

"Didn't think of your landing very well, did ya?" he said with a chuckle. "That would've been disastrous–"

"–for us, not you," the second twin said from behind. "It'd take ages to set up the wrecked displays had you fallen on em."

Draco couldn't help but roll his eyes. He soon noticed that he had no escape route now. One twin was a few steps above of him and the other a few below; he just had to think of the stairs before using that silly toy, didn't he? Draco turned so his back was to the railing so he could look between the two.

"Well I am not sure what you'd expect would happen when there's only one side with a rail. Liability issues and all," Draco reasoned, gesturing to the empty space in front of him.

"Hasn't changed much, has he?"

"Perhaps a little bit?"

"We'll have to see."

They were doing it again, talking right over his head–literally–while they were looking right at Draco. He wanted the floor to swallow him whole.

"So what can we do you for?"

"Besides you attempting to break limbs and threatening to shut us down?"

Draco flicked his gaze between the two, feeling the irritation rise as they filled his head with nonsense.

"I didn't—"

"'Course not, that'd put you in the negative limelight, wouldn't it? All those questions on why you're in here to begin with–"

"–and stealing products no less. Can't tarnish your reputation now, what would your parents think?"

They both sounded so serious, but Draco knew better. Their not-so-serious expressions told him enough. Before he responded to their outlandish claims of what ifs, the twin that stopped Draco from falling gestured for the blond to follow as he skipped up the winding stairs.

"Go on then, mate."

The other twin gave him a nudge on the shoulder to follow.

Draco was at a loss for an excuse to stop whatever was unfolding in front of him, so he found himself climbing up the stairs to the very top without complaint. An office appeared on one side, and the wall opposite had a heavy looking wooden door. He slipped into the office where the twins officially captured him behind yet another closed door. It took a great deal of effort to remain composed.

"Shall we address the blondie in the room, brother?" One twin suggested, but the grin on his face had Draco feel a bit unsure how to interpret what exactly he meant by it.

"I think we should," the one that came up behind him said and he felt an arm drape over his shoulders.

Draco swallowed hard, the closeness was still so new to him. They just touched him without any hesitation at all. He found his entire body want to turn to jelly from it.

"You owe us six knuts."

"Paid in full."

"Afraid we can't let you leave until you pay up."

Draco was floored. He was surprised he didn't collapse right then and there. This was just another messed up little game of theirs where they had all the power and he was there simply to be teased. The realization he was framed into this so easily was amusing yet highly annoying – again. He got distracted by the discovery of their trick used back in the classroom that followed the temptation offered to give it a try himself to not see it. That was exactly what he wanted to avoid. Where did his sense of self preservation and calculating forethought go? Was he just that smitten that he simply cast them aside in exchange for the opportunity to be around them?

"Six knuts? Are you serious?" He held in the laugh that tickled his throat.

"We don't take to kindly to thieves."

"Especially rich ones."

"But you–" Draco paused a moment, looking between the two in a desperate attempt to figure out who was who. "He– One of you practically shoved the trinket into my hands. I can't be faulted for that."

"He's just so cute when he's all flustered," the one with his arm draped over him chuckled out.

He placed his hands on Draco's shoulders and guided him over to a chair and prompted him to take a seat.

"You look faint, you alright?"

"A drink, perhaps?"

'Not again,' Draco internally groaned, but his heart betrayed his thoughts by drumming loudly against his ribs.

"I'm fine."

He was facing both of them now as they stood in front of him. Draco was grateful to be sitting, his head was swimming with a barely contained giddiness. His eyes shifted between the two, carefully trying to pinpoint a quirk to decipher which was who.

"It's unfortunate for us to have to let him off the hook, eh?"

"It's quite sad, really."

One twin cocked his head to the side and the other lightly bit at his lip. It was only then did Draco notice they had nametags pinned to their suits. He felt himself flush with embarrassment at the minute detail he overlooked from the start. George continued to worry his lip and Fred seemed to look everywhere but at him. Draco wondered what they meant by letting him off the hook.

"I can leave a bank voucher for the knuts, if that's what you're referring to," Draco said slowly after a long minute of silence.

He subconsciously pat at his robes pocket for one as he spoke while completely forgetting about the galleons he had on him. The two snorted out a laugh at the comment and it left Draco feeling very confused and unsure about everything.

'Why did I want to see these two again? That's right, to be utterly humiliated.' He remembered it going over very much the same way last time, but he refrained from dragging his hands over his face and hair from frustration.

"It was never about the knuts," Draco declared, face warm with embarrassment.

"Nope," George said, popping the 'p' while shaking of his head.

"Never about them."

"Care to enlighten me, then?" Draco snapped, unable to contain his irritation.

"Whoa now, calm down there," Fred said, raising his hands up.

"You came to us, remember?" George recalled, his lips twitched in his attempt to hold back a smile.

"So we should ask you why you're here–" Fred commented.

"–and not you demanding what our motives are," George finished.

Draco couldn't bring himself to say why he was there out loud. He thought it was clearly obvious–or at least implied–but these two acted like the incident in the classroom never happened at all. Though that was the initial deal to never speak of it again, he wasn't prepared that they meant never speak of it again amongst each other. He was played the fool again and it bothered him to no end that he stood up suddenly and made for the door.

"I shouldn't have ever bothered with you two," he hissed, feeling hurt at the conclusion he drew.

Fred caught his arm before he could get to the door causing Draco to address him with a scathing glare. George was watching him over his brother's shoulder and was taken completely off guard by the sharp look given that he immediately averted his eyes.

"We thought you understood the circumstances, mate," Fred stated. "It was only a game."

Draco knew he was not playing around by the look on his face. They really did seem to forget and assumed he would, too. Knowing this didn't take the sting out of the truth he didn't want to hear, it only made it even more painful to accept.

'Only a game.'

Draco jerked his arm away before he grew too accustomed to their touch and shot a final glare at both of them before leaving the office. He bolted down the stairs as quickly as he could, feeling more hurt to know they made no notion to even try and stop him as second time. Once he got to the ground floor, he found was facing that Tele-Snapper display again. Grey eyes glanced to the top of the stairs for a moment before he nicked a few of the trinkets and dropped a single galleon in their place before making his way out the door.

He should have never went into the shop in the first place.