Chapter Text
It was the next day and they had moved their trailer behind the big top with the other acts. For the most of the previous day after lunch Harry, George, Fred, and Luna spent time alone together. Harry had calmed and was at this moment curled in the arms of George in their bed, the both of them sleeping softly. In an adjacent room lay Fred and Luna, as calm as the others. Their trailer was more spacious than most, having had an expansion charm placed on what were single rooms. The living area wasn’t changed, just in case anyone entered, but there was still enough room for four people to live comfortably.
It was decorated rather simply, and there were few light sources save for the windows. Though, from the outside looking in it didn’t look like the windows let in any light at all, appearing to be blacked out.
The kitchen was open to the living area and was directly opposite the door. It was small, but they got by well enough with it. The dining area was next to it and was made up of a small table in front of a comfy looking L shaped sofa. Pushed against the plain cream walls were a four snake tanks, two large and two small. The large ones housed Albus and Nagini, them being the largest of all five snakes; Severus had one of the smaller tanks, and Riddle and Hedwig shared the last. The two smaller snakes didn’t necessarily like sharing, but they got on with one another better than when paired with any of the others.
The bedrooms were the most decorated, Luna and Fred’s was painted with all sorts of murals. Luna kept the colour scheme the similar with each separate image, but even then, the room had every colour of the rainbow somewhere on the walls. The bed was made of a silver metal and looked good with the pastel yellow bedspread. Shelves lined the walls, breaking up the murals, and were filled with odd trinkets.
George and Harry’s room was a dusty blue colour. There were dark brown accents and Harry guessed Luna modelled it after the Ravenclaw dorms. Their bed was made of dark wood and the bedspread was a gentle smoky lilac that complemented the walls nicely. Like Luna and Fred’s room, George and Harry’s had many shelves, but they weren’t as cluttered as the others. They housed mostly books and photos of the four of them.
George shifted as he woke, smiling as Harry shifted with him, snuggling closer. The smaller man blinked his eyes open.
“Morning” he mumbled sleepily.
George kissed his forehead, “Good morning love.”
Harry moved his head and reached to kiss Gorge on the lips gently, moaning softly when the red head bit his lip teasingly. It led to a five-minute-long, passionate make out session that would have gone further were it not for Luna knocking on their door and happily telling them to get out of bed.
Harry pouted as he broke away from George and grumbled, getting of bed and stretching. He felt George’s eyes on him and smirked, “Like what you see?” he teased. He was shirtless and wore only a pair of red boxers, showing off his dark, slender form. Up and down his arms, across his shoulders, and half way down his back and chest were golden snake scales. He had gotten the tattoos a year ago but hid them when he wasn’t performing. He had some muscle definition from his time training during the war and playing quidditch and unlike when he was younger, he wasn’t so skinny as to be able to see his ribs.
George grinned and laughed, “You know it” he replied and got out of bed himself. He too was shirtless but wore dark purple pyjama bottoms. He had more muscle definition than Harry, especially his arms. This came from his position as a Gryffindor beater since he was 13. He headed to the wardrobe and removed a purple button up and black fitted jeans. He looked at Harry, “You going green today?” he asked.
Harry nodded and George tossed him his favorite olive green, long sleeved shirt, a dark grey vest, and a pair of black jeans. He caught them and the two got dressed before exiting the room.
Once out of their room they saw Luna dressed in a light blue dress and sitting cross legged on the sofa getting her hair brushed by Fred, who wore the same thing as his brother though with an orange shirt.
Luna was holding Riddle and petting him gently and Harry smiled at the serene expression on their faces.
“Morning Luna,” Harry greeted, walking over and kissing her cheek.
“Hello Harry.” Luna smiled as he made his way to the fridge.
George leant against the wall and watched Harry remove five large mice and give them to Albus, Nagini and Severus, greeting each of them with hisses and soft laughter as they enthusiastically ate the rodents. Harry then took Hedwig from her tank and placed her on his shoulder.
“We ready for breakfast?” he asked and
Fred looked up, “One moment.” He said before giving Luna’s hair another gentle brushes. He stopped hummed, waving his wand. The long blonde locks weaved themselves into a tidy pinned up braid.
Harry nodded and led the way outside, George following closely after him and he followed by Luna and Fred. They made their ay over to the canteen, the morning sun gentle and warm.
Not many people seemed to be up yet, the only person they recognised from yesterday was Eve, who was sat talking to a black woman with thick curly hair. The small group walked over and sat opposite them, once again Fred and George sandwiching Luna and Harry between them.
“Oh, hello.” Eve greeted with a smile. “Desi, these are the new guys I was telling you about. Harry, Fred, George, and Luna.”
“Hello” Desi purred, “I’m Desiree.” She shot a look at Harry and the white snake on his shoulder, “I hear one of you is a snake charmer?”
Harry nodded, “That’s me,” he held a hand out across the table. Desiree shook it. “Harry Potter. It’s a pleasure, ma’am.”
Desiree smiled, “No need to be so formal, call me Desi.” She waved a hand and the bracelets around her wrist jangled softly. “And I suppose this is Luna?” She addressed the blonde girl.
Luna smiled sweetly, “Hello Desiree.” The girl absentmindedly stroked Riddle.
“And we’re Fred and George.” The twins said simultaneously. “A pleasure to meet a beautiful woman such as yourself, Lady Desi.” They winked.
“Oh, you charmers.” Desiree laughed.
Harry rolled his eyes and turned to George. “Could you go grab us some food Georgie?” he asked.
George nodded, briefly holding Harry’s hand under the table and squeezing it before standing and walking away.
“We’ll go too,” Luna said, placing Riddle on the table and pulling Fred to follow after George.
As they walked off, a tall, bulky man sat down next to Desi. The woman in question rolled her eyes and pursed her lips.
“Mornin’ Dell.” She said in a bored tone.
“Desi” the man spoke gruffly and looped an arm around her waist, pulling her close sharply before kissing her. Desi looked uncomfortable and Harry coughed. Dell sneered and looked at Harry, who’s piercing green eyes subtly glared at him, before blinking in surprise, which quickly melted into mild anger. “Who’re you?”
“Dell, this is Harry.” Desi introduced, inching away from Dell slightly. “He’s new.”
“Oh yeah? And what do you do?” the man scoffed.
Riddle hissed loudly and Dell moved back a little warily, eying it in.
Harry smirked, “Now, now, Riddle,” he picked up the black snake and looked into its eyes with a mock pout. “Be nice.” He placed him on his wrist and Hedwig slithered around his upper arm and the two hissed softly to one another.
Eve snorted quietly with laughter and Desi had an amused look on her face. Dell, however, just grew angrier.
“Harry here is a snake charmer.” Desi said, placing a hand on Dell’s arm as a subtle warning to the man. “Aren’t you Harry?”
Harry smiled sweetly and nodded, petting Hedwig calmly, his eyes trained on Dell.
Dell glared at harry but said nothing. Instead he reached and tried to take a sausage off Desiree’s plate.
She slapped his hand away. “You have legs, go get your own.” She huffed. Dell growled but stalked off in the direction Fred, George, and Luna had gone.
“Sorry about him,” Eve apologised. “Dell is our strong man.”
“And my husband,” Desi scoffed.
“And he doesn’t deserve you.” Eve rolled her eyes.
Suddenly there was shouting over by the kitchen area. Harry rose quickly when he saw Dell in Fred’s face and George shielding Luna. He rushed over, followed by Eve and Desi.
“Hey!” Harry yelled. “Back off!” the snakes around his arm tightened their hold so as to not fall.
George turned to see Harry join them. Fred was still busy shouting at Dell, who was a good few inches shorter that him.
Harry pushed his way in between Fred and Dell. He glared up at the man, and despite his short stature the strong man seemed to show a little fear, but it was masked quickly with anger.
“Back off” Harry repeated, slowly and calmly, fury on his face.
Dessi grabbed Dell’s arm to try pull him away but Dell was shrugged out of her grasp easily.
“Or what?” The strongman grunted.
“Or you won’t walk away at all.” Harry hissed.
“Did you just threaten me?” Dell sneered, setting up to punch the younger man.
“That wasn’t a threat pal,” Fred laughed darkly. “Harry doesn’t make threats.”
Dell growled and growled and swung his fist, getting Harry in the face. The snakes didn’t like the affront on their master and hissed loudly as Harry stumbled back, nose bleeding and glasses near shattered, the bridge bent awkwardly. He barely made a sound, however. George stared wide eyed and ran forward, ready to pummel Dell, but Luna held him back. Fred too looked furious but Harry made him stay put by staying between him and the strongman.
Desi and Eve stared in shock.
“Hey!” a voice called out and an elder woman with a beard came walking up with Jimmy behind her. “What the hell is goin’ on?”
Dell glared at her, “Stay out of this bitch” he snarled.
The woman looked at between him and Harry, and then at the protective looks on Fred and George’s faces.
“You step away from that boy, Dell.” The woman ordered, coming between the two. Dell twitched as if he were about to hit her too but turned and stormed away.
There was a collective sigh of relief and Harry let his guard down, putting his hand to his face and feeling the blood. He groaned in more annoyance than anything else.
George ran forward and cupped Harry’s face in his hands carefully, checking the damage.
Harry removed his glasses and handed them to George, who pocketed them and lifted his chin gently to see into his eyes better.
“There’s no glass that I can see, do your eyes hurt at all?” George said, frowning.
“No, they’re fine.”
“You sure?” George worriedly asked.
“It’s fine, George. I’m fine.” Harry insisted. “I just need ice and maybe a rag or something for my nose.”
“Are you alright?” the bearded lady asked, worry in her voice.
Harry nodded, “I’m fine. Thank you for intervening, miss?”
“Ethel Darlin’” She replied. “But you can just call me Ethel.”
“Harry Potter, ma’am.” Harry smiled, and took the handkerchief George was holding out for him, placing it to his nose and mopping at the blood.
“Ma,” Jimmy spoke, “These are the new guys. The red heads are Fred and George, and that’s Luna.”
“Oh yes, Elsa told me we had some new acts.” Ethel nodded. “Now, can you tell me what happened?”
“I’d like to know myself,” Harry looked at George imploringly. “It better be good. I’d do anything for you guys, but I don’t particularly like getting punched in the face.” He laughed.
“That bloke threatened Luna.” Fred said gruffly.
“Yeah. We were over here getting food, and then he barges over and bumps into our darling Luna.” George backed up.
Ethel looked at the girl in question.
Luna nodded with a frown. “Freddie got upset when he swore at me.”
“I tried to get him to apologise” Fred huffed, hooking an arm around Luna protectively. “I mean, maybe I could have been… calmer.”
Ethel scoffed. “That man would have gotten violent even if you were calm. C’mon, let’s get you cleaned up. With the twins gone, we need to rehearse a new line up.”
“Twins?” Fred and George asked.
“Bette and Dot ran off yesterday.” Jimmy said.
“They ran off?” Harry asked, still holding the handkerchief to his nose.
“Elsa took them dress shopping. Disappeared when her back was turned.” Ethel explained. “Now, let’s not think of that all.”