Harry Potter 06 - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

boxes of quills, which came in Self-Inking, Spell-Checking and Smart-Answer varieties. A space cleared in the crowd and Harry pushed his way towards the counter, where a gaggle of delighted ten-year-olds was watching a tiny little wooden man slowly ascending the steps to a real set of gallows, both perched on a box that read: Reusable Hangman – Spell It Or He’ll Swing!
    ‘“Patented Daydream Charms …”’
    Hermione had managed to squeeze through to a large display near the counter and was reading the information on the back of a box bearing a highly coloured picture of a handsome youth and a swooning girl who were standing on the deck of a pirate ship.
    ‘“One simple incantation and you will enter a top-quality, highly realistic thirty-minute daydream, easy to fit into the average school lesson and virtually undetectable (side-effects include vacant expression and minor drooling). Not for sale to under-sixteens.” You know,’ said Hermione, looking up at Harry, ‘that really is extraordinary magic!’
    ‘For that, Hermione,’ said a voice behind them, ‘you can have one for free.’
    A beaming Fred stood before them, wearing a set of magenta robes that clashed magnificently with his flaming hair.
    ‘How are you, Harry?’ They shook hands. ‘And what’s happened to your eye, Hermione?’
    ‘Your punching telescope,’ she said ruefully.
    ‘Oh, blimey, I forgot about those,’ said Fred. ‘Here –’
    He pulled a tub out of his pocket and handed it to her; she unscrewed it gingerly to reveal a thick yellow paste.
    ‘Just dab it on, that bruise’ll be gone within the hour,’ said Fred. ‘We had to find a decent bruise-remover, we’re testing most of our products on ourselves.’
    Hermione looked nervous. ‘It is safe , isn’t it?’
    ‘Course it is,’ said Fred bracingly. ‘Come on, Harry, I’ll give you a tour.’
    Harry left Hermione dabbing her black eye with paste and followed Fred towards the back of the shop, where he saw a stand of card and rope tricks.
    ‘Muggle magic tricks!’ said Fred happily, pointing them out. ‘For freaks like Dad, you know, who love Muggle stuff. It’s not a big earner, but we do fairly steady business, they’re great novelties … oh, here’s George …’
    Fred’s twin shook Harry’s hand energetically.
    ‘Giving him the tour? Come through to the back, Harry, that’s where we’re making the real money – pocket anything, you, and you’ll pay in more than Galleons !’ he added warningly to a small boy who hastily whipped his hand out of the tub labelled: Edible Dark Marks – They’ll Make Anyone Sick!
    George pushed back a curtain beside the Muggle tricks and Harry saw a darker, less crowded room. The packaging on the products lining these shelves was more subdued.
    ‘We’ve just developed this more serious line,’ said Fred. ‘Funny how it happened …’
    ‘You wouldn’t believe how many people, even people who work at the Ministry, can’t do a decent Shield Charm,’ said George. ‘Course, they didn’t have you teaching them, Harry.’
    ‘That’s right … well, we thought Shield Hats were a bit of a laugh. You know, challenge your mate to jinx you while wearing it and watch his face when the jinx just bounces off. But the Ministry bought five hundred for all its support staff! And we’re still getting massive orders!’
    ‘So we’ve expanded into a range of Shield Cloaks, Shield Gloves …’
    ‘… I mean, they wouldn’t help much against the Unforgivable Curses, but for minor to moderate hexes or jinxes …’
    ‘And then we thought we’d get into the whole area of Defence Against the Dark Arts, because it’s such a money-spinner,’ continued George enthusiastically. ‘This is cool. Look, Instant Darkness Powder, we’re importing it from Peru. Handy if you want to make a quick escape.’
    ‘And our Decoy Detonators are just walking off the shelves, look,’ said Fred, pointing at a number of weird-looking black hooter-type objects that were indeed attempting to scurry out of sight. ‘You just drop one surreptitiously and it’ll run off and make a nice loud noise out of sight, giving you a diversion if you need one.’
    ‘Handy,’ said Harry, impressed.
    ‘Here,’ said George, catching a couple and throwing them to Harry.
    A young witch with short blonde hair poked her head round the curtain; Harry saw that she too was wearing magenta staff robes.
    ‘There’s a customer out here looking for a joke