The Weasley of Slytherin: The Goblet of Fire

Chapter 2: The Night Before

I spun faster and faster, blurred fireplaces flashing past me, until it started to focus on the our kitchen.

"What was it?" I heard Harry say as I sat down in a chair feeling slightly nauseous. I assumed he was talking about the sweet Fred had dropped for Dudley.

"Ton-Tongue Toffee," said Fred brightly. "George and I invented them, and we've been looking for someone to test them on all summer. . . ."

The tiny kitchen exploded with laughter; I looked around and saw that Ron and George were sitting at the scrubbed wooden table with Bill and Charlie, my two eldest brothers.

"How're you doing, Harry?" said Charlie, grinning at him and holding out a large hand, which Harry shook. Charlie was built like the twins, shorter and stockier than Percy and Ron, who were both long and lanky.

Bill got to his feet, smiling, and also shook Harry's hand. Bill was tall, with long hair that he had tied back in a ponytail. He was wearing an earring with what looked like a fang dangling from it.

Before any of us could say anything else, there was a faint popping noise, and Dad appeared out of thin air at George's shoulder. He was looking furious.

"That wasn't funny, Fred!" he shouted. "What on earth did you give that Muggle boy?"

"I didn't give him anything," said Fred, with another evil grin. "I just dropped it. . . . It was his fault he went and ate it, I never told him to."

"You dropped it on purpose!" roared Dad. "You knew he'd eat it, you knew he was on a diet —"

"How big did his tongue get?" George asked eagerly.

"It was four feet long before his parents would let me shrink it!" I broke out into laughter along with my brothers and Harry.

"It isn't funny!" Dad shouted. "That sort of behavior seriously undermines wizard–Muggle relations! I spend half my life campaigning against the mistreatment of Muggles, and my own sons —"

"We didn't give it to him because he's a Muggle!" said Fred indignantly.

"No, we gave it to him because he's a great bullying git," said George. "Isn't he, Harry?"

"Yeah, he is, Mr. Weasley," said Harry earnestly.

"That's not the point!" raged Dad. "You wait until I tell your mother —"

"Tell me what?" said a voice behind us.
Mum had just entered the kitchen. She was a short, plump woman with a very kind face, though her eyes were presently narrowed with suspicion.

"Oh hello, Harry, dear," she said, spotting him and smiling. Then her eyes snapped back to Dad. "Tell me what, Arthur?"

Dad hesitated. I knew that however angry he was with Fred and George, he hadn't really intended to tell Mum what had happened. There was a silence, while Dad eyed his wife nervously.

Then two girls appeared in the kitchen doorway behind Mum. One, with very bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth, was our friend, Hermione Granger. The other was Ginny. Both of them smiled at Harry, who grinned back, which made Ginny go scarlet — she had been very taken with Harry ever since his first visit to the Burrow.

"Tell me what, Arthur?" Mum repeated, in a dangerous sort of voice.

"It's nothing, Molly," mumbled Dad, "just a little joke—but I've had words with them —"

"What has (Y/n) done this time?" said Mum.

"Oi, Oi, Oi!" Fred said hotly. "Don't go giving him credit for our invention!"