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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling

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J.K. Rowling

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

“There you go,” said Fred proudly. “Best range of love potions you’ll

find anywhere.”

Ginny raised an eyebrow skeptically. “Do they work?” she asked. “Certainly

they work, for up to twenty-four hours at a time depending on the

weight of the boy in question —”

“— and the attractiveness of the girl,” said George, reappearing suddenly

at their side. “But we’re not selling them to our sister,” he added, becoming

suddenly stern, “not when she’s already got about five boys on the go from

what we’ve —”

“Whatever you’ve heard from Ron is a big fat lie,” said Ginny calmly,

leaning forward to take a small pink pot off the shelf. “What’s this?”

“Guaranteed ten-second pimple vanisher,” said Fred. “Excellent on everything

from boils to blackheads, but don’t change the subject. Are you or

are you not currently going out with a boy called Dean Thomas?”

“Yes, I am,” said Ginny. “And last time I looked, he was definitely one

boy, not five. What are those?”

She was pointing at a number of round balls of fluff in shades of pink and

purple, all rolling around the bottom of a cage and emitting high-pitched

squeaks.

“Pygmy Puffs,” said George. “Miniature puffskeins, we can’t breed them

fast enough. So what about Michael Corner?”

“I dumped him, he was a bad loser,” said Ginny, putting a finger through

the bars of the cage and watching the Pygmy Puffs crowd around it.

“They’re really cute!”

“They’re fairly cuddly, yes,” conceded Fred. “But you’re moving through

boyfriends a bit fast, aren’t you?”

Ginny turned to look at him, her hands on her hips. There was such a Mrs.

Weasley-ish glare on her face that Harry was surprised Fred didn’t recoil.

“It’s none of your business. And I’ll thank you,” she added angrily to Ron,

who had just appeared at George’s elbow, laden with merchandise, “not to

tell tales about me to these two!”

107

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