Fred and George and the Toilers of Trouble (Year 1) ✔

Chapter 1:3

For several hours, all sorts of people arrived in the still small, though previously quiet, village of Ottery St. Catchpole.  Strangers who were dressed in long robes and paneled cloaks.  Odd types with tall, pointed hats who spoke the same gibberish as Arthur and Molly Weasley.  Most villagers saw them as traveling gypsies or eccentric tourists in costume, but Mary and Ruth were slowly accepting the reality that their guests, the Weasley family, were a part of something vast and extraordinarily perplexing.  There were cats in abundance, one man had an immense toad balanced on his shoulder, and much like the hundreds of shooting stars that were visible over London that day, there were flurries of owls flying about the town.  Strangest of all, the visitors seemed to appear from somewhere between the buildings, as if they had been living in their village the whole time, which really could not have been possible at all.  The midwives resolved to admit that it was better to be confused by the puzzling event than to try and understand it on any level.

There truly had been, as was being rumored, a miraculous twin birth.  One child, now suddenly twins.  To the witches and wizards who had arrived to congratulate the family, this was a momentous occasion.  An assortment of thoughts wove through their minds, but all were centered on a single truth — a set of pure-blood twins had been born, and an ancient prophecy, long dismissed, may have finally been realized.

A few of these visitors were allowed indoors to see the twins and to congratulate the couple, first being their closest neighbor, Amos Diggory, and his infant son, Cedric.  Then came Molly's two older brothers, Fabian and Gideon Prewett, who were in tatters from the war and accompanied by her elderly Auntie Muriel, who swore (on Merlin's beard, no less) that she had visions during her afternoon nap of twin boys causing mischief.  Finally, came Arthur's peculiar cousins, who refused to speak in front of the newborns, and the most curious of all, a man with buzzed red hair, a ragged bandage on his forehead, and dark, stained cloaks who claimed to be their Uncle Ayrius.  He was a few years older than them, and yet neither of the parents had heard of the man.  Arthur took a picture of Ayrius holding the twins in the hope that his brother Bilius would assure them that the visitor was, in fact, a Weasley.  Thankfully all the family had left by the time the most significant arrivals came to Ruth Huckle's doorstep. 

First, of course, were the reporters from a newspaper called the Daily Prophet.  Ignoring the new mother's discomfort, they barked every question they could dream up at her, took photographs of the twins from all angles, and whispered to one another their astonishment.  Later that day an article went to print, gracing the front page with the shadowy heading, The Boy Who Was Twins.

Most wizards had heard of the ancient prophecies surrounding pure-blood twins, and were instantly intrigued. That edition sold out in less than an hour.  But uncertainty took over when a known joker and recent graduate of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, by the name of Wonky Goosefeather, realized that the date above the heading was the first of April.  And soon, more owls were flying than before, carrying notes and declarations that the Daily Prophet was wasting time playing a practical joke and getting the attention of the Muggles instead of providing up-to-the-minute reports on Lord Voldemort and the disastrous Wizarding War.

And yet, despite the skepticism, there were some who were still mesmerized by the miraculous birth.  One such man, a bright-eyed wizard with a long, silvery beard and half-moon spectacles named Albus Dumbledore, who was headmaster of Hogwarts, arrived at the cottage late that night.  Wrapping his slender figure was a thick, dark purple cloak, embellished with gold stitching.  Beside him was a tall, emaciated man holding a worn leather satchel with a mane of black hair that hung past his waist.  He was dressed all in black.

Albus rapped lightly on the open door to the bedroom, not wanting to stir the twins from their slumber.  He smiled as Molly and Arthur called out to him.