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Returning to Sanity	By : AchillesTheGeek Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 31212 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter books or films, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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12. .WWW . Returns . Joy!
Saturday, May 9 1998
Saturday dawned, bright and cheery, if still quite chilly: it was, after all, still early May. Everyone was up early at the Burrow; there was a general feeling of relief, now that the funerals were all over, and excitement now that the day of the re-opening of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes had finally arrived. The twins' joke shop had been ready for days, as Harry, who provided the start-up capital by donating his winnings from the Triwizard Tournament of 1994, knew perfectly well; but the twins had been busy in every spare moment crafting new products and producing more stock.
Harry had been ecstatic to find that for once, he didn't feature in the Daily Prophet at all. He was fed up with the sycophantic rubbish they'd been printing all week, gushing endlessly about "Our Saviour" and how Rita Skeeter had such a special empathy with him – which made him want to hurl the paper into the fireplace, especially as he knew they would turn on him in a heartbeat if they thought it would sell more copies. The only thing Skeeter really empathised with was her Quick Quotes Quill, which probably wrote more of the interview than she did …
But this morning's headline simply announced

TODAY'S THE DAY!
WEASLEYS' WIZARD WHEEZES GRAND RE-OPENING!

Underneath was a photograph of George and Fred, smiling and winking in a most alarming manner, and, Harry was sure, some guff about how wonderful this was and how much the wizarding world needed their brand of whacky humour. He didn't bother to go on; why read about the twins when he had the real thing sitting grinning at him from across the breakfast table?
Their grins were infectious, and Harry found himself chuckling under his breath as he remembered their playful digs during the week – asking about the chaise-longue still made him laugh whenever he thought about it.
The twins were absolutely delighted to see the huge smile on their little brother's face.
"Operation Happy Harry is working a treat," Fred whispered to George.
"Let's see if we can't get him shrieking with laughter," George replied, equally quietly.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Forge?" Fred whispered back.
"Always, Gred."
"Oh Haaarryyy," they sang together at him. Harry chuckled; what mischief were they up to now?
"Ye-es," he replied, with just a little trepidation. There was a sudden BANG; and Harry found himself six feet up in the air. The cushion he was sitting on had popped open like a balloon, and now surrounded him, so it felt as though he was sitting on a rather bouncy throne. After the initial shock, Harry did indeed howl with laughter, as the throne bounced up and down beneath him, and the sides came out like fingers and tickled him.
"Do you like our latest product?" The twins asked him. "We picked up the idea from a Muggle thing called a nairybairg. / Or something like that!"
"An air-bag!" Harry replied, breathlessly. Mr. Dursley had talked incessantly about the two in his car, he was very proud of them. Harry wondered just what he would say if his air-bags behaved like this, and the thought of Vernon Dursley six feet up in the air being tossed on a one-man bouncy castle that was tickling him to death made him laugh even harder. "Yes, it's great fun!" And then, as he was getting more out of breath, and starting to be concerned for his safety, "um, do you think you could let me down now?"
"Oh, sorry, Harry," they replied, and with a swish of their wands, the cushion gracefully collapsed back down and Harry found himself seated at the table once more.
"You guys are just amazing!" he said, weeping with laughter. "That landing was so smooth… how did you do it?"
"Ah, well, that, ah, that did take a bit of time to sort out," George admitted.
"Yes, we bruised ourselves rather badly before we worked out the spell completely," Fred continued.
There was a sharp tutting sound from Molly behind them, but she didn't say anything, and three plates heavily laden with bacon, sausages and eggs floated over to the table and settled in front of Harry and the twins. At the same time, two toast-racks came over from the toaster, one for Harry and one between the twins, and three mugs of tea floated straight from the kettle. And Harry's sweet tooth was not forgotten: a honey-pot followed his mug, pouring honey into the tea, as a spoon scuttled over and began to stir the cup.
The whole thing appeared to be done effortlessly; Harry, in his current happy mood, found it incredibly comic, and doubled up in laughter.
"Sorry, Mrs Weasley," he said, as Molly looked at him with concern, "it was just so beautiful and funny to watch breakfast come over! Your spells are amazing!"
Molly smiled at him indulgently. A little flattery never hurt. And she could see that the twins were rubbing off on Harry; she'd lived with them for twenty years, she was quite used to people finding the strangest things amusing.

They Flooed to the shop at half-past eight. Harry had wanted to apparate into Diagon Alley and come into the shop through the front door – he still wasn't a big fan of Floo travel, and he wanted to see what the experience would be like for everyone else – but when they got there, he was glad that they hadn't. The Alley seemed to be full of people already, some of them going about their business, but many just standing around, obviously waiting for the Grand Re-Opening. The shop, even with no-one in it, seemed full, as joke items were in piles everywhere; plastic bins were overflowing with Skiving Snackboxes, Joke boxes, Nose-Biting Teacups, spiders that were charmed to wriggle realistically, Peruvian Darkness Powder, and hundreds of other lines.
"You've been busy!" Harry exclaimed.
"They had help," said a voice from the back of the shop, and Neville came out, leading Seamus and Dean. Harry was overjoyed to see them again; it had only been two days, but that was at the Memorial Service and he hadn't got to say good-bye properly. Now his friends surrounded him with chatter and started showing off some of the tricks they'd helped the twins to make. Then Neville made his way over to George and gave him a big kiss, to whoops of joy and cat-calls from the others. Harry was stunned and delighted to see how readily his other two classmates accepted the relationship.
Operation Happy Harry was going very well, Fred decided.
Harry was amazed that people were prepared to stand around for an hour and more just to enter a joke shop. Not just a joke-shop, he told himself. It was, after all, the best joke-shop in the Wizarding world, and he was proud to have invested in it. But then the real symbolism of the day hit him. For these witches and wizards, visiting the shop was a statement that they wanted to leave behind the horrors of war and go back to the carefree life that they had had before Voldemort had risen so many years ago. Many of them, perhaps, would barely remember such a time; for them, it must be exciting to think that the Weasleys would at last bring carefree joy into their lives, unmixed with darkness.
An idea struck him. A wickedly good prankish idea. An idea worthy of the twins themselves. "Got any more of those cushions?" he asked Fred, in his most innocent voice, at which the twins both pricked up their ears – they knew full well that meant he was up to something! After all, they'd had years of knowing when each other were thinking evil pranking thoughts, spotting someone else doing it was child's play for these masters of mirth.
"Yeah, there's a whole bay of them over by the wall there. What are you thinking, Harry?" Fred replied.
"I think I can guess," George said, and Fred turned to him as the same knowing smile spread across both faces. "Harry, that's brilliant!" they said, together.
Ten minutes later, Neville and Dean walked out the front door, and placed a row of chairs in front of the shop. They went up to some of the more elderly – but not too elderly – witches and wizards, and offered them a seat. Of course, their unsuspecting victims were only too glad to accept such a kind and thoughtful gesture from these "nice young men". It wasn't long before their shouts – a little apprehensive, but mostly gleeful – rang out throughout the Alley as they bobbed six feet up in the air. George had spelled a sign to appear underneath them:

Don't be down in the dumps!

Get up with the bumps!

In Weasley's Bouncing Balloon-Chairs!

"Not my best, I'm afraid," George said, apologetically. But no-one believed him. After all, they weren't interested in brilliant poetry, their aim was to amuse. And, of course, to sell their products; but the cushions would probably do that perfectly well all by themselves.
After a minute or two they let the poor witches and wizards down, only to find a ready queue of volunteers wanting a turn of their own. Of course many of the younger witches and wizards now felt left out, coming and demanding a turn as well, so in very short order there was a huge crowd yelling and laughing right in front of the shop.
It was the sort of advertising you couldn't buy with a million galleons, Harry thought. How better to advertise a joke shop than with a huge crowd of people having fun? He wandered out with a few trick items to give away as freebies: a couple of Decoy Detonators went off soon afterwards, and the bangs just added to the noise and fun.
As he stood at the far edge of the crowd, surveying the mayhem, Floriana Fortescue came over and shoved a chocolate and raspberry sundae with chopped nuts in his hand. He was amazed that she remembered his favourite, and told her so; she looked at him like he was a Dementor.
"Harry, my father loved you best of all his customers! He made sure we all knew your favourite!" she exclaimed.
She had not come over just for him, he was glad to see: she had a whole tray of sundaes, and they were disappearing rapidly at two sickles each.
"Hey!" Harry shouted above the general din, "don't spend all your money on ice-creams!"
But it was plain to see there was no danger of that. People had come prepared, their pockets full of galleons, itching to part with them for the wonderful Weasley products.
Harry looked back at the shop and got his first glimpse at the huge sign advertising the re-opening. The doggerel was both appalling and endearing:

YOU-KNOW-WHO HAS GONE AWAY!
U-NO-POO IS HERE TO STAY!
COME AND HAVE SOME FUN TODAY!

Underneath was some text rather more to the point:

WEASLEYS' WIZARD WHEEZES
PURVEYERS OF PLEASURE TO THE PEOPLE!
MAKING MIRTH FOR THE MISERABLE!
WE'RE BACK, VOLDY, AND YOU'RE NOW MOULDY!

He grinned. They just couldn't resist the dig at Voldemort, stealing Peeves' line. But somehow the jocular humour fit the occasion, and the shop, perfectly. He wandered back through the heaving, boisterous, happy crowd, into the shop.
They weren't even open yet, and the Grand Re-Opening was already a roaring success.

The morning flew by. The doors opened at exactly ten o'clock, and by one minute past you could hardly move inside the shop. Naturally, Harry helped out, and found that his being there was a drawcard all by itself; people came up to him to shake his hand all morning, and he made sure everyone who did bought a little something extra. George came up to him about eleven with a cup of tea, and told him they reckoned he was personally responsible for about half the sales; he was sure this was an exaggeration, but it made him grin anyway.
By half-past twelve, Harry was getting worried: they appeared to have sold practically everything!
"What about the afternoon crowd?" he asked.
"Don't worry, Harry," a twin replied, "We've got a trick or six up our sleeves still. / Now, how about some lunch?"
They closed the shop for an hour and the six of them went to the Leaky Cauldron. The place was packed with very happy witches and wizards who all seemed to have some Weasley item they wanted to show off. The noise was incredible, and yet managed to double as they walked in and were spotted. Harry was glad to see that the twins were being hailed as celebrities today: he had had quite enough of being famous; it was wonderful to be able to take a step back and not be in the spotlight for once.
Everyone wanted to buy them drinks, so by the time they found somewhere to sit, each of the six had a tankard of butterbeer in each hand, and there was a tray full of more tankards placed on the table in front of them. It took a while to convince Tom the landlord that what they really needed was food, rather than drink. But when the message got through to him, great platters were passed around, and everyone ate their fill. After that, there were a couple more rounds of butterbeers, and Harry offered to pay. Tom wouldn't hear of it; "the drinks have been paid for twice over, Mr. Potter," he said, grinning happily, "and the food is on the house."
As they left the Cauldron, accompanied by a large crowd eager to visit their shop, Floriana Fortescue came up with a huge bucket of ice-cream for them. George offered to pay, but she wouldn't take his money.
"Thank you so much, boys!" she said, her face beaming, "I've been rushed off my feet all day with the crowd you drew! Heading for the best sales for a single day ever, which is stunning considering that it's not even hot!"
When they got back to the shop, and had eaten their ice-cream, George and Neville scuttled out the back, and for a brief moment Harry wondered if they were up to …. No, couldn't be. Surely?
They came back in shortly after, carrying a small, but evidently very heavy, box between them. They put it down slowly, and it bounced a little: it was obviously under a levitation charm, but so heavy that even that couldn't keep it in the air.
"You might want to stand back, Harry," Fred warned him, and they all did, standing at the far wall as George and Neville took the lid off the box.
Immediately, hundreds of items rushed out of the box and flew around the shop, settling happily into the right bins. By half-past one, the shop was nearly as full of stock as it had been when they had opened at ten, and the doors were re-opened.

At about half-past two Harry was fretting because he remembered his promise to Draco to visit, when there was a big commotion (that is, the prevailing din got appreciably louder) as the Weasley clan came in.
"Look, Fred, it's ickle Ronniekins!" George called out.
"And Hermio-ninny!" Fred replied.
"Stop it, you!" Hermione replied, slapping him lightly on the wrist; but there was no heat in it and he just grinned in reply.
Hermione had worked out long ago not to let the twins get to her, or she would spend her whole life being annoyed by them. She linked her arm through Ron's and they wandered around the shop, looking at everything. They weren't buying much; the twins always made Ron pay double, and he and Hermione didn't have many galleons. Harry would have paid for them, of course, but the twins would never accept his money; so he just watched to see what Ron really wanted, then set one of each item aside for him later. The twins could see perfectly well what was going on; but they weren't going to let on; their pride kept them silent: Ron paid double, Harry never paid, that was the rule, and they stuck to it. It was a strange arrangement, but they actually liked it, because they didn't have to break their rule about Ron, Harry got to do his friend a favour which made him happy, and his smile always melted the twins' hearts.
Molly was obviously astonished to see the shop looking so smart and complimented her boys on the décor. Harry thought he had never seen them turn so red. It was really cute that their mother could embarrass them so easily. No-one else ever had; not to his knowledge, anyway.
He didn't hear what Arthur had to say because Neville came over at this point and suggested he might like to go upstairs. Like going upstairs? He thought to himself, I never have before … But when he decided to stop being silly and did go up, he was overjoyed to find his friend Robin Banks, who had evidently Flooed into the shop. He greeted Robin with a huge hug; he decided they were getting a bit beyond shaking hands, despite only having known him for not quite a week. Robin was one of those people, like Tonks, who you met for five minutes and felt you'd known forever.
"It's lovely that you're happy to see me, Harry," the Auror said, "but there's someone else here I think you'll be even happier to see."
And there, coming out of the Floo, looking more than a little apprehensive, was Draco Malfoy.

Harry didn't so much give Draco a hug as wrap him up in one. Draco looked as if he was afraid that it was all just a dream and would burst at any moment; or, more likely, worried that he would be scolded and hounded back to the manor, as Auror Crockford certainly would have done had he been there. But he soon plucked up courage and returned the embrace in kind.
"Harry," he said, "it's stupid, I know, I only saw you yesterday, but I've missed you so much; Father has been impossible today, I think it's because he's realised the Debt has set in; and Auror Banks was on duty and …"
"You gave him permission to come?" Harry completed, making it a question to Robin.
"And brought him," said the Auror, with a smile. "He is allowed to travel with escort. We mustn't be away long, but I saw no reason why he couldn't share in the fun. We're not all heartless bastards, Draco," he replied to the blond, who was still looking a bit frightened.
"So you're not worried he's a danger to the public?" Harry said, with a strong hint of irony in his voice.
"Oh yes, I'm sure," came the reply, as Robin obviously got the irony and replied in kind. "Wizards who aren't allowed their wands and are being escorted by trained Aurors are such a menace to the public!"
His face had a warm, uncomplicated smile on it, and Draco, seeing it, seemed to trust his luck and relaxed a bit more into Harry's arms.
"I think you two might be more comfortable on the settee, don't you think?" Banks asked them, ushering them into the small lounge-room as he closed and locked the Floo. "I think I can trust you with Harry, Mr. Malfoy, so I'll just be in here if you need me," with which he went back into the Floo reception room and closed the door behind him.
Harry and Draco now had some privacy, which they put to good use. Their kiss was every bit as passionate as the one they'd had the previous afternoon, and Draco finally relaxed completely. Harry felt the tension leave his – what was Draco now? Friend? Lover? He didn't know. They'd have to talk that one through. Later.
Almost as if he'd read Harry's mind, Draco chose this moment to ask, "so, you've got over your scruples from yesterday, then?"
"I'm not sure," Harry admitted. "But I said we'll work it out together…" He thought a bit more. "I'm sorry about your father, Draco, but I just couldn't say those words. Something told me it was wrong to just say them without understanding them. I just hope – does this mean –"
"It means, Harry, we get to work things out together. That's all. Forget about the debt; just tell me, honestly, how do you feel right now?"
"I guess, right now, I'm just really, really happy to have you here and to hold you in my arms. And kissing is good, too. Better than good," he added, in response to a mock-glare from Draco.
"I can live with that," Draco said, holding Harry tighter and kissing his nose.
There was a discreet tap on the door, and Harry made an encouraging "come in" sort of noise, which was a little incoherent as he had just buried his face in Draco's hair. Auror Banks came in. "Sorry to disturb you two, but I will have to get Draco back to the Manor soon, and I thought he might like to see the fun downstairs."
Draco looked mildly horrified. "But there's lots of people! Isn't there a danger of being cursed?" he asked.
Robin waved his wand in a complex pattern, and suddenly there next to Harry was not Draco Malfoy, but Dennis Creavey. "Being a dab hand at casting glamours is quite an asset for an Auror," said Robin, affecting modesty but failing completely to achieve it.
Harry was astonished. "It's a perfect replica of Dennis! How do you get it so exact?"
"He is my cousin, remember?" Robin replied softly, "I've known him all his life; that certainly helps with glamours. But I really am pretty skillful; I got an O in charms at Durstrang on the strength of it."
As he spoke, Harry noticed a mirror on the wall behind Draco, and turned him so he could see the effect. Draco smiled, showing off Dennis's rather crooked teeth.
"That is pretty amazing," he agreed.
Robin smiled and escorted them downstairs, and stood at the back, keeping one very watchful eye on Draco and the other roaming for any possible threat. It was obvious to Harry that he didn't see Draco as a threat in any way; there had been no talk about Cuffing or any such nonsense, and Harry loved him even more for that.
But everyone in the shop was busy looking and buying, and while people came up to Harry to shake his hand, no-one gave Draco a second look as they wandered around, Draco's eyes wide open as he gazed in astonishment at all the merchandise.
"It's incredible," he whispered to Harry. "When they were at Hogwarts, I just thought those two were a pair of no-hoper troublemakers; but the skill that's gone into thinking up these things and making them is astonishing. In their own way, they're geniuses."
Harry chuckled. He was delighted to think that Draco was changing his mind about the people he would before have simply dismissed as 'blood-traitors', unworthy of his contempt; he was actually coming to admire them.
"Remember the swamp?" he asked. "Flitwick called that a lovely piece of magic."
"Oh yes," Draco said, the memory coming back in a rush. "Professor Umbridge HATED it! It showed up just how bad she is at charms and counter-charms."
Harry was a bit perturbed – he didn't really want to think about Umbridge, not today. Today was a day for fun; Umbridge was everything but. Fortunately, they were interrupted, and that train of thought derailed.
"Hello Harry, wondered where you'd got to," Ron said as he came up to them. "Oh, hello Dennis –" and then Ron took a closer look, realized who he was talking to, and lowered his voice: "Malfoy? Do the Aurors know you're here?"
Draco looked alarmed, and Harry murmured, "Ron is very sharp about glamours, don't worry, no-one else has noticed." Draco then indicated to Ron with a nod towards the back of the shop, and Ron looked over and saw Robin Banks standing there, all official and alert. He gave Ron a quick grin, but then his face went back to an impassive mask, surveying everything.
"Don't let Ginny know he's here," Harry whispered to Ron. "He's on duty, and he's being wonderfully kind – he brought Draco over, set up the glamour and let us both come down here and mingle."
At that point, Robin signalled to him, and Harry realized their time was up. It really hadn't been long, but he was very grateful that they had come at all. He grabbed Draco's arm, and indicated with his head that they had to go back up. Draco grasped the meaning immediately, and, without seeming to rush or doing anything suspicious, they were at the back of the shop very quickly.
"Sorry boys, time to go," they were told, and the three of them went upstairs.
When they reached the Floo point, Robin ushered them back into the lounge-room, and said, with a wink, "We don't have to rush straight away; you can have a minute to say goodbye."
And Auror Banks didn't seem to mind that they took rather more than a minute; and in fact they didn't do all that much talking.
As they came out again, Draco asked, diffidently, "Will you come by tomorrow? Say, ten o'clock?"
Harry grinned widely. Draco had sounded casual and off-hand, but he knew that he was anything but. Being together was becoming important to both of them. Draco wanted him. All by himself. And, he knew, all for himself, in both senses: he didn't want to share Harry, and also he didn't want Harry the Boy who Lived or Harry the Slayer of Voldemort, he wanted Just Harry. The real him. The thought made his heart sing for joy.
"It's a date," he said.
Draco blushed red at these simple words, and the implications behind them, but said nothing. Robin looked all innocent before turning away to open the Floo, then gently leading Draco back to the Manor.
Harry sighed. It was silly, he knew; he'd just seen Draco, but he really was 'missing you already' as the Muggles said.
He didn't care if he looked silly; hell, he didn't care that he was being silly.
He was going to see Draco tomorrow. It put a huge grin on his face.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I have set up a thread for replies at http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/56042-review-replies-for-returning-to-sanity/ . I will generally try to reply to posts before posting a new chapter.
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Returning to Sanity