Sunburst

✹Chapter Two✹

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Fio was busy drawing, lying flat on his bed, Pigwidgeon sat comfortably on his shoulder and completely ignored Ron and Hermione's hushed murmurs when the door creaked open and Fio was knocked off the bed by Hermione, causing Pig to start zooming around the room, twittering excitedly. "HARRY! Ron, he's here, Harry's here!" Hermione shrieked excitedly. Fio blinked, shaking his head blearily, then sighed and slumped against the bed from his position on the floor. "Ow." He said pointedly, sending a reproachful look at Hermione while he rubbed his head. Hermione grinned, unswayed by Fio's annoyance. 

Ron took pity on his twin, reaching down and pulling him to his feet, then scooting backward to make room on the bed. Fio nodded gratefully, then sent a welcoming smile at Harry. Harry did not return it, and Fio noted his expressionless face and tensed shoulders. Hermione was talking and talking, but Fio was not sure at all if Harry was receiving any of her words. Ron got up to close the door, but Fio tapped his arm, standing up. "I'll go tell the others you're here. I'll take Pig as well, so he doesn't interrupt your talk." He said, snatching Pig from midair and carrying him out the door, shutting it behind him. 

Fio breathed out in relief, his shoulders slumping as the tension he'd felt pouring off Harry left his vicinity. "I can already tell he's fit to explode, best be out of the room when it happens." He muttered confidentially to Pig, who gave a small hoot as if in response. Fio smiled down at the owl, gently petting Pig's small head. "I'm glad Sirius sent you instead of a rat, you're much better than Scabbers ever was. Especially knowing that he was a cowardly, creepy old murderer who was in cahoots with You-Know-Who." Fio mumbled bitterly, still not over how messed up the man named Peter Pettigrew was. "An' I don't have to get over it anyway, so there." He growled to himself, then realized what he was doing and giggled. 

Pig gave a muffled tweet, and Fio put the tiny grey owl on his shoulder. "Let's go tell the others Harry's here. If you stay on my shoulder and don't zip around like a Golden Snidget, I'll give you an owl treat, okay?" Fio encouraged, smiling. Pig hooted excitedly, raising his wings to show his enthusiasm, then stopped and tucked them back into his body, choosing to puff out his fluffy chest as far as he could, but accidentally causing his head feathers to puff up as well. Fio chuckled, reaching out a single finger and smoothing his feathers back down gently. "Progress is progress." 

Fio knocked on the door to Fred and George's room, letting himself in and smirking as he caught the two of them red-handed. Quite literally, as their hands were stained red from whatever they were currently making. They looked surprised for a moment, then showed Fio identical grins. Fred was crouched over a box of innocently looking, purple and orange sweets, while Georg was directly opposite him, looking through papers covered in the twins' messy handwriting. "It's alright, Gin, you can come out, it's just Fio." They said in unison, and Fio's smirk softened as his little sister peeked her head over the bed, smiling sheepishly. 

"What are you three up to this time?" He chided gently, absentmindedly walking over to the dresser, grabbing the owl treats on top, and feeding one to Pig. Fred grinned mischievously, wiggling his crimson fingers at Fio. "Oh, nothing. Just another Nosebleed Nougat test." Fio sighed, walking over and plopping down on the bed near Ginny, who climbed on the bed and sat next to Fio. "You better pray Mum doesn't see. She'll think you two've been dueling." George brightened, quickly Summoning a wrinkled piece of parchment into his hands. "Brilliant excuse! We'll use that one for sure!" He said, quickly scribbling it down.

Fio chuckled, grabbing one of the prototype promotional posters and skimming it with raised eyebrows. "'Gallons of Galleons?' Nice one, I quite like that line. You might want to add something in front of 'virtually painless,' however., you don't want your potential testers to pay too close attention to that part." George was nodding seriously and taking notes on every piece of advice Fio dished out, while Fred simply looked amazed at his brother's knowledge. "How do you know all this, Ollie?" Ginny asked curiously, saying what Fred was thinking. Fio grinned, his cheeks turning slightly pink out of self-consciousness. "Well, I thought I'd help you two out a little bit. I've been owling Professor Sprout all summer about promoting a small business." George and Fred wore identical expressions of shock. Ginny giggled, hugging Fio's arm. "You're a genius, Ollie." She praised, grinning.

Fio shrugged bashfully, rubbing the back of his neck as it and the tips of his ears turned pink, a trait he shared with Ron. "Not a genius. Definitely not a genius. But I'll take smart, intelligent, or clever." Ginny giggled again, shaking her head. "Humble as always. Such a Hufflepuff." Fio grinned at that, puffing out his chest proudly. "You betcha, sis. Humility is our specialty." He boasted jokingly, causing George to chuckle and Fred to hide a grin. Ginny rolled her eyes dramatically. "Well, it was until you said that!" She declared, shoving Fio playfully. 

Fio just laughed, stretching out his legs and leaning back languidly. "So, do the two of you need any help?" He offered, tilting his head at his two older brothers. Fred brightened and opened his mouth excitedly, but George swatted his arm before he could say anything. "No, we're not making Fio test the products when he was so kind to offer help. We can't make him do that." He chided gently, and Fred pouted. "Fine. What do you want him to help with then?" He grumbled, and George smirked. "Fio can do the honors of filing for us." Fio sighed, sitting up and stretching his arms over his head. "Ouch. I guess I'll just go and write a letter then."

Ginny opened her mouth to protest, but whatever she was going to say was cut off by the very clear sounds of shouting coming from downstairs. Fio sighed as the voice shouting became discernable as Harry's. "Told you he'd explode soon." He said, looking up at Pig. The tiny gray owl twittered as if giggling, doing a quick loop around Fio's head. Fred and George exchanged looks, then saluted and disappeared with twin pops. Ginny groaned and rose to her feet. "They're always randomly disappearing!" She muttered in slight annoyance, walking over to the door to catch up, then pausing by the doorframe. "You coming, Ollie?" Ginny asked. Fio shook his head with a smile. "You go ahead. I have a letter to write."

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Next chapter is up! I tried to multitask and write the next chapter of Till The Night Falls at the same time, but I got stuck and was procrastinating, so I decided to suck it up and just focus on one :) Hope you enjoy it!

-V. Lee

Edit: Updated the format to make it easier to read :)

1198 Words, including description