The Forgotten Twin

Chapter 8

That was the first store they actually went into. They had stopped by the Shrieking Shack so Fred could tell its story. He was a great storyteller that communicated emotions very well. It was evident when he told Delilah about some pranks he had done.

The only store Fred decided they needed to go into was Zonko's. It was chaotically amazing. There was so much noise and prank supplies, making it was any prankster's dream. Fred explained what each prank did and they each bought handfuls of stuff such as Dungbombs, Hiccough Sweets, Frog Spawn Soap, Sugar Quills, and Nose-Biting Teacups.

Bilton Blimes, the owner, took notice of Fred immediately and walked over. He was an older gentleman with a strip of silver hair on his mostly bald head and a thin, yet wide, silver mustache that curled at the end. His bow tie matched his bright blue eyes.

"Hello Fred! Where's George? And who's this lovely young lady?" Bilton shot Delilah a wink, making her grin.

"This is my friend Delilah. George is helping Lee with a project," Fred answered with a grin.

"Ah, pleasure to meet you Delilah," Bilton said with another wink.

"And you, amazing store you've got here," she complimented.

Bilton's chest blew up with pride.

"Thank you! So what are you buying?"

They bought all their pranks and went to The Three Broomsticks to scheme with some butterbeer.

"We could slip some Frog Spawn into the Slytherin bathes," Fred suggested as he took a sip.

"We?" Delilah asked after tasting the butterbeer. It tasted divine, the way everything was mixed perfectly, without the taste of too much sugar, was amazing.

"Yeah, you could tell me the password and we could put them in. It'd be brilliant."

"Nah, I don't want to prank my house, maybe we could sneak into the Prefect Bathroom and put it there," Delilah suggested and Fred grinned.

"Then we'd also be pranking Percy, brilliant! Then we could also put Hiccough Sweets in a bowl there and have a note saying something about thanks from the Professors, or Dumbledore, he'd give sweets out randomly."

"That would be hilarious, maybe we could also ask the House Elves to put them out during dinner. We'd need more of course, with 3 bowls per table including the staff, that would be 15 bowls, and we could magically duplicate a full bowl," Delilah brainstormed.

"But wouldn't the duplicated ones be less potent?" Fred pointed out.

"Yes, but then the states would be different making it seem more like an accident. Plus we could put the most potent one on the staff table. Imagine Snape, McGonagall, and Dumbledore with hiccups," Delilah said dreamily and Fred grinned.

"Brilliant, and since we could duplicate them all from the first bowl, the rest would be about the same. Do you know the charm to duplicate objects?" he inquired.

"Gemenio, and you just move your wand in a counter-clockwise swirl with whatever number you want it to duplicate, so in our case five."

Fred stared at her, surprised.

"How did you know that? I'm a fifth-year, and I had no clue!"

Delilah shrugged. "I got an advanced charms book for Christmas one year and memorized a few of the spells."

"That's amazing, do you know the charm to uh... make someone throw up?" Fred asked.

"I'm pretty sure that's a jinx, not a charm," Delilah pointed out.

Fred pouted.

" I guess. We should probably go buy more Hiccoughing Sweets before we have to head back."

And they did, after they finished their butterbeer. After buying the Hiccoughing Sweets they headed back to school.

They got back about an hour before the feast and used that time to duplicate the bowl and go into the Kitchens behind the ticklish pear and snuck the bowls in and hurried out.

Then it was time for the feast. Fred and Delilah walked in at different times so that it was less obvious that they were partners in crime.

The feast was amazing. The Great Hall had been decorated with hundreds and hundreds of candle-filled pumpkins, a cloud of fluttering live bats, and many flaming orange streamers, which were swimming lazily across the stormy ceiling like brilliant water snakes.

The food was delicious; even Delilah, who was full with sweets, managed second helpings of everything.

The feast finished with entertainment from the Hogwarts ghosts. They popped out of the walls and tables to do a bit of formation gliding. Then it was time for dessert.

Usually dessert happened before the entertainment, but today was different. Delilah immediately spotted the bowls of Hiccoughing Sweets and was delighted to see that almost all the teachers, including Snape, McGonagall, and Dumbledore, grabbed quite a few. Lupin and Professor Sinistra were the only ones that didn't.

After a few minutes the talking in the hall had been replaced by hiccuping. Delilah tried not to laugh as Hagrid belched a huge one. At least she thought it was a hiccup. Even Snape started hiccuping, though he quickly took an antidote from his robes.

Then Dumbledore ate his first Hiccough Sweet. He looked surprised as he started hiccuping. He wasn't the only one either, students all around the hall were hiccuping as well as most of the teachers.

Only one other person other than Fred and Delilah found it funny, and it wasn't George. Even he looked upset. They hadn't included him in the prank so he had accidentally eaten ten of the sweets. It wasn't treating him well. No, the other person was Professor Lupin. He was obviously trying not to laugh. While he had succeeded at that, there was no way he could hide his grin. Yet the glazed look in his eyes made it seem like he was remembering something from a long time ago.

After a few minutes, the hiccupping died down and no one seemed willing to eat the rest of the desert. Finally, it disappeared and everyone hurried off to their dorms, a few still hiccuping.

Delilah walked up to Draco.

"How'd you like Hogsmeade?" she asked.

"It was decent, the guys and I just messed around in Zonko's. I saw you in there with one of the Weasley twins, I presume that you two were responsible for the hiccuping during dessert?" Draco casually guessed.

"Yep, and did you hear Hagrid's? I honestly don't know if that was a hiccup or burp," Delilah said, grinning.

Draco smiled.

"It was pretty epic," he admitted as they entered the dorm with everyone else.

"Well, goodnight. I'll see you tomorrow," said Delilah as she walked into her dorm and quickly got ready for bed.

About halfway through though, someone knocked on her door. It was Daphne.

"Delilah, hurry! Sirius Black is in the castle!"