[1] Lemons into Lemonade ✓ | FRED WEASLEY

Chapter Twenty Eight

"You're the hot twin?" Fred scoffed, "Think you must be blind, mate."

At this, George furrowed his brow, "Strange, Fred always says the same thing when I tell people this... did he get you to say that?"

"No ... hon," Fred lied quickly, annoyed that his brother had yet again made him break character, "Guess I just picked it up from him, happens when you spend a lot of time with someone... anyway, I'm not here to ask about Fred, believe it or not, I was actually wondering about someone else..."

"Lee's single too."

"... not what I wanted to know," He leant against the dorm frame, "Fred says you've been talking to Ludo Bagman..."

George considered this before, closing his eyes and resting his head, "He did, huh? How much did he tell you?"

"Not the reasons why but he mentioned you've been doing a bit of blackmail."

George shrugged, "So what if I have? It was his idea before he randomly stopped helping. What's it to you anyway? Are you part of the Blackmail police, here to arrest me?"

He said it jokingly but there was a genuine curiosity in his eye, unsure of what Fred or 'Aubrey's' intentions were. Fred decided to put his mind to rest, "No, I was just curious if you know anything of interest."

"Did Fred send you? 'Cos if he wants to know, he can just ask - "

"No, I'm not here for Fred ... " He tried to think of a valid reason for him coming to her, suddenly remembering that Aubrey had mentioned a tiff between her father and the ministry, "Fred told me about the blackmail and I'm just curious about what you know. Look, hon, I don't want to go into too much detail but my family and the ministry don't get on and I'm curious if you have any ... dirt on them."

George's curiosity had been sparked, "Oh yeah, what sort of 'not getting on'...?"

In response, Fred gave a mysterious shrug, "They weren't great to my Dad and I just thought a little ... revenge might be nice. Ludo seems like a bit of a weak link, if you ask me and I thought with him being here and all, it's just the perfect opportunity. S'okay if you don't want to tell me - "

"I never said I wouldn't, just wanted to know why," George replied, "So, what are you planning to do with the information if I give it to you?"

Again, Fred shrugged, "Haven't decided yet but when I figure it out l, I'll tell you. Probably subtle but generic revenge."

"Usually I don't tell other people stuff like this, but you and Fred are ... close and I do love revenge. Don't really do it myself but I can appreciate it from afar, like Gobstones or speaking French. I overheard two of the teachers talking a while back, saying that Ludo used to be friends with Augustus Rookwood, you know, the Deatheater? It's quite hushed up from what I can tell, they were talking very secretively but nothing's secret from me and Fred when we want to know."

"Friends with a Deatheater?" Fred thought aloud, "That is ... actually very useful. I can see why you were using it to blackmail him."

"Right? Fred doesn't seem to want to talk about it now, he was more enthusiastic at the beginning," George replied and Fred made a mental note to encourage Aubrey to be more enthusiastic about the whole thing, "I like your thinking, Aubrey Jackson, I can see why you caught my brother's eye, similar people ... 'kindred spirits' as my brother Percy once said non-stop for a year after reading some daft book about a ginger."

"Yeah ... funny that."

"You two should go to the dance together," George suddenly remarked nonchalantly.

"We already are," Fred replied, deciding that there was no harm in telling George.

"Oh, really?" His brother grinned slightly, "Weird, Fred didn't tell me, good to know."

• • •

Lexy had many questions about Fred's encounter with George but he remained quiet, brushing it off in typical Aubrey fashion. Later that night, when he met up with Aubrey for their tedious spying ordeal he could tell from her pursed lips and folded arms she already knew.

"So, George told me about your little chat," She replied, "I would be annoyed but apparently you got more information from him than we have for the past few weeks."

Fred grinned, "See? I told you reckless can work."

"That wasn't reckless," She replied quickly, "That was ... annoyingly smart and it's annoying we didn't see it before. George had been spying for ages, we should have seen that," She paused for a second, clearly thinking her words through carefully, "I've been thinking, George is your brother ... or mine depending on your viewpoint so maybe we should..."

"Tell him about the body swap so he can help?" Fred finished as Aubrey trailed off.

"Good, glad you finished for me, didn't want to be accused of only doing it because I liked him," She replied, "So you agree? We should tell him?"

Fred nodded, "We'll have to make sure the timing's right, George will probably think we're pulling his leg if it's not. I suggest, we spike his morning pumpkin juice, that way he'll probably believe anything."

"Or we leave hints before frankly explaining the truth."

" ... or, we spike his pumpkin juice," Fred grinned, "Maybe we spike all of ours, I could use some firewhisky thanks to the past few weeks."

"I hate the stuff but ... me too."