Seven Devils ★ T.M.R ★

Chapter Thirty-Two

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BLOOD AND GOLD
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MARINA COULD TELL to the exact second when the twins had arrived because the whole Burrow was suddenly shaken by a series of staggeringly loud noises, each more troubling than the last. The first was a piercing CRACK as the twins Apparated into the lounge, immediately followed by Mrs Weasley's loud shriek of surprise, which was itself chased by a cacophonic crashing sound. The whole ordeal was capped off by the instantaneous eruption of Mrs Weasley's furious bellows that were so loud that Marina caught every word from where she sat in Charlie's room on the third floor.

Marina – who had pilfered Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them from Charlie's bookshelf and was very comfortably curled up on his bed – looked up at Charlie apprehensively. He reluctantly lowered his quill from the letter he'd been writing and turned to face her. They shared a deadpan look as his mother's voice continued to thunder up the stairs.

"Shall we go say hi?" he asked blandly.

If the volume of Mrs Weasley's voice was anything to go by, Marina would have much preferred to keep reading. Nevertheless, she somewhat nervously followed him downstairs only to find the lounge in utter pandemonium.

Fred and George had evidently decided to celebrate their arrival by charming a large explosion of confetti to erupt the second they Apparated inside, leaving every available surface littered with brightly coloured, slightly fizzing slips of shiny paper. Unfortunately for them, Mrs Weasley had been carrying the large family clock at the time which she monitored obsessively (a regrettable number of the hands refused to budge from 'mortal peril'), and it appeared that she had dropped in surprise. The clock lay in shambles at her feet as she unleashed her wrath upon the twins who stood somewhat meekly among the colourful havoc that they had wrought upon the lounge. Marina could tell immediately who was Fred and who was George thanks to the slightly gruesome reddish scar on the left side of George's face in place of an ear.

"– COULD HAVE DONE SERIOUS DAMAGE TO MYSELF! LOOK AT THE STATE OF IT! IF YOU TWO WOULD STOP INSISTING ON BEHAVING LIKE CHILDREN THEN PERHAPS –"

"Hello there!" Fred said cheerfully, catching sight of Marina and giving an unaffected wave despite the behemoth fury of his mother raging beside him. "You must be the time-travelling Muggle from the future!"

"My reputation precedes me," Marina said dryly, turning to Charlie who gave her a guilty smile.

"I may have told them about you last time I visited the store," he said sheepishly.

" – SUPPOSED TO GET IT FIXED? NOT A SINGLE HOROLOMANCER LEFT IN DIAGON ALLEY AND MERLIN KNOWS IT'LL COST A FORTUNE –"

"We have so much we'd like to ask you about," George grinned. "In the future, does Snape crack the elusive mystery of a shampoo bottle?"

"Do Hagrid and Madame Maxine ever get hitched?" Fred chimed in.

"Does our git brother Percy finally remove that stick from his –"

" – USE MAGIC RESPONSIBLY FOR ONCE! YOU'LL BE CLEANING IT BY HAND AND NOT A SINGLE SPELL BETWEEN YOU!"

That finally caught their attention.

"Don't be like that, mum!" said Fred, looking put out. "We could have this sorted in a jiffy!"

He drew his wand, but Mrs Weasley was faster.

"Expelliarmus!" she bellowed.

Fred's wand flew across the room and clattered into the corner where it disappeared into a pile of brightly coloured confetti.