9 Chapter 9 - Seductive Witch

"It's glowing… much brighter than before. I could tell it's shining brighter than when I bought it hahaha."

The wizard laughed, nudging Fred, who was snickering along to cover it up.

"Let's see if this works now…"

The witch continued. He started to rub his thumb on the crystal, which started to light up. It wasn't a strong light, but it was visibly emitting a light.

"Hello, Aunt Linda? Can you hear me?"

The wizard said, stretching his hand towards the sky, trying to catch a signal.

"Oh, hi. Aunt Linda! Yes, yes, I can hear you perfectly."

The wizard said into the phone, bringing his hand closer as he looked at Ron raising his eyebrows in surprise. The boys couldn't hear Aunt Linda's lines, just a few murmurs coming from the crystal. The light that was static before was now glowing as Linda's sound came out.

"I'm eating right, Aunt Linda. No need to worry about it. Yes, yes. I already know."

The wizard continued answering the woman.

"The signal is perfect now. Thank you boys!"

He replied, handing a small bag of coins, which contained the exact amount of the service, to Fred, and walked away while continuing to talk to his aunt.

Fred looked at Ron proudly. The Communication Stone was working perfectly thanks to Ron.

Ron looked back at Fred with satisfaction.

After a few minutes of Fred talking to random people walking down Diagon Alley, George emerged hurriedly and happily beside a beautiful young lady.

"I brought a client!"

George said, with a huge, passionate smile on his face.

The woman was tall, with long black hair. She had emerald green eyes and white, almost pale skin. She was dressed a little more neatly than ordinary wizards would wear.

The woman was much older than George, and he was completely in love with her, but she didn't pay any attention to George.

"Good morning, Miss! How can we help?"

Fred asked, puffing out his chest. He seemed to be enchanted with the woman too, which made George jealous, looking at him with indignation.

The woman was indeed very beautiful, but Ron didn't seem to trust the seductive woman very much.

"Good morning! I need to fix my Magic Bag. Can you do this for me? It's working perfectly, but her leather is peeling all over. I know it's only superficial, but it's really bothering me. Can you help me?"

The woman said, pouting as she lightly touched Fred's shoulder, making George enraged.

Ron realized that this woman could cause problems later on. From her radiant beauty, she was probably used to getting things whenever she wanted, manipulating others smoothly.

"O-Of course, Miss!"

Fred stammered, being embarrassed by the beauty of the woman staring straight into his eyes.

"And how much would it be?"

The woman asked seductively.

"Stay 50 Sickles!"

George responded by puffing out his chest, interrupting Fred, who was about to respond.

"Oh, perfect! Let me get the money. Only a moment."

The beautiful woman said. She put her hand inside the pocket of the dark green cloak she had wrapped around her body.

Then she showed two 2 galleon coins stuck between her two slender fingers, showing off the woman's beautiful long and sharp fingernails.

"Does this work?"

The woman asked, already knowing the boys' answer.

Ron frowned in curiosity. He thought that the woman might be trying to outsmart the brothers, but he was surprised that she would pay the amount imposed by them.

"It is the exact value!"

Fred said, holding out his hand.

The woman then began to look Gerge in the eyes, leaving the boy hypnotized. She took the coins quickly to George's hand, their hands brushing for just a moment, making George feel embarrassed. Before she could let go of the coins, she pulled her hand back and pushed the worn down bag towards George, without him realizing what just happened.

Ron straightened up, pushing himself away from the wall, realizing what had just happened.

The woman was trying to cast an optical illusion on George, making his brain think he had taken the coin, but in fact, he still had the woman.

She slipped the coin into her pocket without anyone noticing.

"Let's get her as good as new!"

Fred said, nudging the woman's shoulder, trying to get her attention and taking the bag from George's hand.

Fred approached Ron to hand him the bag, moving away from George and the woman, but Ron got up at the same moment and went to question the woman.

"That woman! She didn't give the money to Jorge."

Ron said irritably to Fred as he glared at the woman. She looked back at Ron, pretending not to understand, while George tried to get the witch's attention, talking some nonsense.

"What? What are you talking about? Look, this is our second client. Make your service soon! We don't want to get a bad reputation right off the bat."

Fred said, trying to defuse the situation, noticing that Ron was starting to get angrier.

For a few seconds, Ron thought he had seen it wrong as Fred didn't see it either. So he decided to just go on with the service and see if she had really given him the money.

He took the bag from Fred and carried it to the other table.

The bag looked like an ordinary bag. There was nothing special about it, however, upon opening it, he realized that it was enchanted with 'Capacious Extremis'. A spell that enlarges the interior space of objects, such as suitcases. Widely used by advanced level mages.

This made Ron curious. If this suitcase was an object enchanted by a wizard of a high level, then why would she want to hire their services? She could fix something as simple as the frayed leather on her purse herself.

So it was clear that Ron wasn't going crazy. The woman used her own beauty to get services without paying, outwitting local merchants.

Ron pulled his wand from his sweatshirt pocket and said effortlessly, focusing on the bag's appearance.

"Reparo!"

Then, a spark of light illuminated from the wand and the worn down leather bag began to repair itself, restoring every bit and leaving the bag looking much newer, enhancing the shiny leather it once was.

Ron picked up the restored bag and handed it to Fred.

"Here you are, Miss!"

Fred said, carefully handing the bag over to the woman.

The woman took the bag delicately and her eyes began to shine.

"Wow! This is amazing!"

She said, as she ran her slender fingers over the bag's new leather.

"I can't remember the last time I saw it in this state. Thank you, children!"

The woman completed, placing the bag under her arm and lightly touching George's arm, which seemed to make him melt under her touch.

"It was nothing, miss! You can count on us whenever you need to."

Fred said, realizing that George was in no condition to speak.

"I will always come back here. Well… I'll be off now."

The woman said, looking deep into Fred's eyes and turning to leave.

"Wait! And the money?"

Ron interrupted, going to the front of the tent, seeing that Fred and George hadn't remembered to charge.

"Oh, what money?"

She asked curiously, looking surprised.

"Payment for the service. You didn't pay!"

Ron replied, his voice tight.

"I did not pay? Of course I paid. I handed the money over to this guy here."

She said, pointing at George.

"Do you really think you can fool me so easily? Sorry, I'm not that naive!"

Ron said, staring into the woman's eyes.

"And what are you going to do, little boy? I already told you that I gave you the money. Are you going to steal coins from me?"

The woman stared back at Ron with a sarcastic look.

"George? Did she give you the money?

Fred asked, trying to resolve the situation peacefully.

"Oh yeah? Money? Oh yes. She gave it to me! It's right here…"

He started to say, running his hands through his pockets.

"Wait, I can't find it. I'm pretty sure I took it and put it away somewhere in here."

George completed, running his hands through his clothes desperately.

"See? Like I said haha! I handed over the money, but it's not my fault your brother's irresponsible."

The woman said mockingly, getting ready to leave, while George looked worriedly at the boys, looking a little sad about having lost the coins.

"See you later, boys!"

She said, quickening her pace to leave.

Quickly, Ron took his wand out of his pocket and pointed it at the woman's pocket.

"Accio!"

He said aloud, making the brothers look at him with confusion and concern.

Then, a light began to glow from Ron's wand. The pocket of the beautiful woman's dark green robe began to levitate slowly and something inside, with a circular shape, started trying to go towards Ron.

The woman looked back, startled by her pocket moving and saw what was happening.

She despaired, trying to grab the pocket with both hands, but before she could close the opening in the pocket, the two coins she had shown George came out of her pocket and started floating towards Ron.

Everyone looked slowly at those two Galleon coins flying over the street slowly and reaching Ron's hands, who took them while looking coldly at the woman.

Fred and George looked at each other, realizing what had happened.

"What are you doing? You're robbing me!"

The woman started to angrily walk towards Ron.

"Well, if you know the basics of spells, you should know that I can only use 'Accio' on objects I've seen before, and well, like I said, you didn't give my brother the money!"

Ron said, not raising his voice, a calm smile on his face. The woman still looked angry.

"You must know my family, right…?"

Ron paused briefly, making the woman notice the color of the boys' hair. She realized that these were the Weasleys, children of Arthur Weasley, who worked at the Ministry of Magic.

That information wasn't very imposing, but by the threatening tone in which Ron said it and the piercing eyes he was looking at the woman, it brought a little uncertainty to the woman of what she was getting into.

"You don't want everyone to know that you tried to rob us and flirted with two teenagers, do you?"

The smile on Ron's face faded, revealing a cold look on his face.

The woman, who had been irritated before and almost charging at Ron, straightened her posture and looked around, trying to see if anyone had heard her.

Without saying a word, the woman straightened her cloak briefly and turned, silently walking away from their shop.

Ron stared silently at the woman walking away from them until she disappeared into the crowd.

"What about our father?"

George asked, confused.

"I don't understand either. He's not even that important."

Fred completed.

"It's nothing. I just bluffed, and it worked."

Ron said, looking at the brothers and then going back to the back of the tent.

The twins face each other, a little scared by what just happened. Their minds started to be bombarded with doubts, but they preferred to keep quiet and continue with the work.