Takes place during Harry's fourth year, after chapter 82 of Family
There are a few phrases that can immediately elicit a feeling of worry or dread.
When a medical professional says "That's new," or "Interesting,".
When a person says "We need to talk," to their significant other. Or when they say "Nothing's wrong," when asked if something was wrong.
When a person of authority says "There's no need to panic," when there was no need to panic prior to them saying not to.
However, for the Wizarding World, more specifically the population of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, there was a phrase that could cause anyone to go immediately on guard and be deeply concerned. Oddly enough, it was a phrase that was frequently said. But when a certain...pair of individuals said it, the danger was immensely higher.
"I'm bored," George said, staring off into space.
"Me too," Fred sighed, staring off into space.
Alicia immediately leaned back in her chair and pulled out her wand. Angelina slid away too, pulling Harry with her. Ron got up and immediately left the common room.
"How can you two be bored?" Hermione asked, looking at them warily given how Alicia, Angelina, and Ron acted. "You have N.E.W.T.s next year."
"Great, now we're even more bored," the twins intoned dismally.
Alicia glared at Hermione and made a sewing motion in front of her lips with her free hand. "Remember my warning," she said to the twins, wand pointed at them.
Fred waved a lethargic hand. "Yeah yeah, don't get your knickers in a twist."
"I'll twist your knickers and more," Alicia threatened.
"While that sounds like fun, I don't think Ollie would approve," George said, somehow ignoring Alicia's thunderous look in his apathy.
"What's going on?" Harry whispered to Angelina.
"Shh, whatever you do, don't draw their attention," Angelina hissed back. She and Alicia looked even more alarmed when the twins sighed dismally, deflating before them.
"Why are you bored?" Harry asked, unable to stop himself. He winced when Angelina pinched his side.
"Oh you know," Fred sighed.
"I...don't?" Harry replied, wincing as he got pinched again.
"It's just, well, nothing to do," George said.
"Don't want to study," Fred said.
"We already did the homework we cared to."
"No Quidditch aside from Blitz Quidditch and we did that a lot this week."
"All our major planned pranks are already being done or have been done."
"Winter break is still weeks away."
"So we're bored," they whined.
"I mean...there's like a bunch of new people here at school this year," Harry offered. "You know, the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students. Maybe you can go and meet more of them? The whole international relations thing?" He coughed when Angelina put her hand over his mouth and pulled him tight against her.
"Say, that's an idea," the twins said together, visibly perking up.
"Harry's right, we got a bunch of people that don't know us," George said.
"And since they don't know us, they don't know what we can do," Fred said.
"Or can't do."
"Even better!"
"And we have a decent enough reason aside from boredom."
"Right, improving international relations."
"Thanks Harry!" they cried together. They popped to their feet energetically, not once paying attention to Angelina keeping Harry's mouth covered or how Alicia still had her wand trained on them. With identical grins, they skipped out of the common room. Once the portrait door closed behind them, the majority of the older students let out huge sighs of relief.
"Oh thank Merlin," Alicia gasped.
"Okay, someone explain?" Harry asked, his voice muffled.
Angelina moved her hand. "Sorry Rabbit, I was hoping you wouldn't draw their attention but you somehow managed to foist it on the foreigners and I'd normally feel bad for them but I'm only relieved right now."
"What is going on?" Hermione asked, bewildered.
"When the twins are bored, hell breaks loose," Alicia said baldly. "When normal people are bored, they usually do something to quell it or something of little consequence happens. When the tits get bored, they do everything to shake off said boredom and it becomes everyone's problem."
"The last time they got that bored, all the furniture from the four Houses got switched," Angelina said.
"How is that even possible?" Hermione asked, eyes wide.
"We don't know," Angelina said flatly. "And that was only the beginning of it. It took weeks for them to calm down."
"Wait, I don't remember any of that happening when we've been here," Harry said. "So they managed to do that their first or second year?"
"Yup," Alicia said. "Both years actually."
"What was your warning?" Harry asked.
"I told them if they'd involve me in their boredom pranks again, I'd remove their bats and throw them into the lake."
"Their bats?" Harry blanched when Alicia made a crude gesture at crotch height. "Please never get mad at me like that."
"I doubt I ever would," she said in a not-quite comforting way.
"They...they can't be that bad," Hermione said slowly. "Ginny? A question please."
Ginny had walked into the common room and came over when called. "Sure, what's up?"
"What do you do when the twins are bored?" Hermione's eyes popped open when Ginny immediately crouched low and flicked her wand out. "Really?!"
"They aren't here," Angelina said.
"Oh thank Merlin," Ginny said. She rose but her eyes kept moving around. "But yeah, be ready for anything and I do mean anything. When those two are bored, weird things happen."
"Harry accidentally sicced them on the visiting schools," Alicia said with undisguised relief and smugness.
"Better them than us," Ginny said.
-0-
The twins were noticeably absent at dinner.
"Have you seen George or Fred?" Angelina asked.
"No but I've been in the library studying," Katie said. "Why?"
"They're bored."
Katie immediately looked up and down the table and around the great hall. "Lyla, if you see the twins the next few days, go the opposite direction."
Lyla's eyes opened wide and she nodded.
"Is it really that bad?" Harry asked.
"Mate, you have no idea," Ron laughed without mirth and Ginny nodded emphatically.
"Oh no. I feel really bad about the other schools then," Harry moaned.
Katie patted his hand after he explained why he said that. "You couldn't have known."
"They won't do anything...truly terrible, would they?" Hermione asked hesitantly.
"They are masters at defining the line and toeing it to the thinnest edge," Alicia said grimly. "We won't know just which side of the edge we will fall on until after the dust settles."
-0-
"Okay, it's been a day and I'm somehow even more nervous," Angelina said the next day. "Just waiting for the spell to hit."
"They are being quite cruel right now," Alicia agreed. "And what's worse is that no one has seen them outside of class."
"Lee's involved," Angelina said grimly. "He's been acting shiftier than usual."
"Is that a good thing?" Hermione asked.
"It depends," Alicia mused. "Sometimes he is a calming influence but other times he's swept up into their influence."
"What's up Rabbit?" Angelina asked, noticing that Harry seemed distracted, looking around the great hall.
"I just noticed a lot of the Durmstrang students and the Beauxbatons are wearing bracelets and necklaces that they weren't wearing the other day." He pointed some out.
"Oh yeah. Hey, they have the House colors on them," Katie said. They looked around, seeing a varied mix of the four Hogwarts House colors on the accessories. "I wonder why they're wearing them, or where they got them. Oh hello girls," she said to Fleur, Aimee, and Colette as they sat down with them. "Have you noticed the things your classmates are wearing?"
"Yes, there was a box at the carriage. It was opened and all of the things on display and a note saying that they were gifts from the host school," Aimee explained.
They all looked at each other in alarm. "Did you three pick any out?" Angelina asked hurriedly.
Fleur blinked. She pulled out a thin bracelet with crimson and gold banding and the other two girls did. "We picked them out but did not put them on yet."
"May I?" Alicia took the bracelet from her and waved her wand over it. She frowned. "Charmed, obviously, but masked so I don't know what. Hermione, Harry, you take Runes right? Can you write out an identifying array?"
"I can do a basic one," Harry said. "Hermione can probably do a more advanced one."
"Do it." Alicia waited for Hermione and Harry to finish a combined array and she put the bracelet on it. She and Hermione leaned over the parchment.
"I...that's complicated," Hermione said as she looked at the spells being scribbled out by the array. "Why don't they do better in class?!"
"Because they only try when it amuses them," Alicia said. "I think that's an Attraction Charm. That might be a Sticking Charm."
"So they are designed to make us look foolish." Colette scowled. "Why are they only targeting the visitors?!"
"They aren't." Harry had looked around some more. "I can see Hogwarts students wearing them too. Not as many and as obviously, but enough are."
"Where did they come from for the Hogwarts students?" Katie asked.
"There was a box in the common room, you didn't see it?" Lavender said. She showed her bracelet. "Right in the middle."
"I didn't, did you?" Alicia asked the others. They shook their heads.
"That is an activation spell," Fleur said. She was inspecting the array and the results too. "At one point, the other spells will activate and whatever they planned will occur."
"Do you see a cancellation condition? I'm a bit rubbish when it comes to arithmancy," Alicia said.
"I don't," Hermione frowned. "That doesn't mean there isn't one, but just one I can tell."
"Neither can I," Fleur said.
"Good thing we waited to put them on," Aimee said.
"When is it going to activate?" Harry wondered.
"Uhm, now I think," Alicia said. The bracelets started shimmering and humming. Then the one on the array shot off and flew down the table and stuck to someone else's bracelet with a snap.
The great hall was full of shouts of surprise and wild motion. Bracelets and necklaces suddenly flew to one another, dragging the wearer with them. There was no definite pattern as in the same Houses were attracted to one another. It seemed entirely random, who got dragged or pulled to who. Hands were joined together where the bracelets touched and people with necklaces were pulled close to one another where the necklaces extended and stuck to each other.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Igor Karkaroff shouted angrily.
Maxime had found her arm pulled out and stuck to Dumbledore's arm. "Dumbledore?" she growled.
"I have no idea," Dumbledore said. He looked at their stuck bracelets with interest. "I may be able to make some hypotheses however."
McGonagall looked up at the ceiling and breathed out a deep sigh before rising from the head table and stalked towards the Gryffindor table. Her eyes moved up and down, seeking the ones she had a reasonable idea of who caused this. She stopped beside Harry and his friends. "Have you seen the twins?" she asked without preamble.
"No Professor," they said back.
She noticed the parchment on the table. "May I have that?" She took it from Alicia. "Twenty points to Gryffindor for attempted spell research." With a very weary sigh, she walked back to the head table. "Septima, this may be of some help."
Septima Vector, professor of Arithmancy, leaned over, smiling apologetically at the Beauxbatons professor she dragged with her, their necklaces entwined. She looked over the parchment. "Whoever designed this," she glanced at McGonagall's irritated huff, "knew what they were doing for the most part. The objects were charmed to seek each other out when activated and will remain stuck together for a period of time."
"Any idea how long?" Flitwick asked, levitating himself up to look over her shoulder at the spellwork.
"Not long, but that doesn't mean much," Vector admitted. "And the accessories are charmed against cutting spells and removal spells."
"I hate to be the bearer of unwelcome thoughts," Flitwick said, "but do you think that this is happening all over the castle and the grounds?"
"Most probably," Dumbledore chuckled. "Since you have not been stuck, would you be so kind as to patrol out there Filius? Perhaps direct all those afflicted here." He looked over at McGonagall. "And would you be so kind to...collect the usual suspects?"
"There will be nothing for me to be kind to once I get a hold of them" McGonagall growled.
She eventually returned with Fred attached to a girl from Beauxbatons and George attached to a boy from Durmstrang. "Explain yourselves," she commanded shortly.
"I was pulled down the stairs and found myself connected to this charming bloke," George protested.
"I was pulled up the stairs and found myself connected to this enchanting lass," Fred protested.
"And you two have no idea how this happened?" McGonagall asked with clear disbelief.
"It's a bit obvious that it's from the necklace," Fred said glibly but paled when McGonagall turned red from suppressed anger.
"Other than that, not really," George said meekly.
"Esther?" Maxime asked.
Esther blushed and shrugged. "It is how Mister Fred said. One moment I was walking and I was pulled towards the stairs and found ourselves in this predicament."
Hans grunted. "Same," the boy from Durmstrang said.
"Say what you will about them, but they have the stones to stand there and look innocent to the professors and Headmaster like that, not to mention the visiting heads," Alicia sighed as they watched the drama unfold.
"At least it's less...debilitating than some of their other pranks," Angelina said. "Granted I'm not stuck to someone so I can say that, but still."
The stuck people were in various states of acceptance. Most were embarrassed and tried various ways to remove the offending attachments. Others sat there resigned.
"Hey, Lavender, your bracelet fell off," Harry said all of a sudden.
Lavender looked down at her wrist. "Oh! It did!" She had found herself stuck to a boy from Beauxbatons and the boy's bracelet had fallen off. "I didn't even notice."
"What did you do to make it fall off?" Hermione asked.
"I...didn't do anything," Lavender said, cheeks pink. "I didn't even notice like I said. I was just chatting with Daniel here and we were having a lovely conversation."
Daniel shrugged. "I did not do anything either," he said. "I was enjoying speaking with Miss Lavender."
Harry looked at other girls. "Huh, I wonder what did it then."
"Oh wait, I think I know," Hermione said. "What did you last say to them? When you mentioned the other schools?"
"International relations?"
"They said that too as they were walking away," Angelina said. "Specifically...improving them."
"So the way to make it drop off is to just have a conversation with the person you're stuck to?" Katie rubbed her head. "That sounds way too simple."
"And very convoluted, which is their trademark," Alicia sighed. "Harry, go tell the professors."
"Why me?" Harry asked indignantly.
"Because no one will think you were the instigator and you have that air of sincerity that encourages people to listen to you."
"Oh," he said, mollified.
"Now go on then," she said and pushed him gently.
With a sigh he made his way to the front table where Fred and George and Esther and Hans stood and awkwardly listened to the heads and professors arguing.
"Yes Mister Potter?" Dumbledore said genially and everyone stopped to look at him.
He rubbed his neck. "Uh, we," he pointed to his friends back at the table, "noticed that someone had their bracelet off. Apparently they had a good conversation with the person they were stuck to and the bracelets fell off on their own."
"So, you were responsible for this," Karkaroff said angrily.
"If Mister Potter was responsible, he would not be here helping us like this," McGonagall said sharply. Her furious glare made the Durmstrang Headmaster back down.
Dumbledore smiled and turned to Maxime. "I have been meaning to ask, how are your orchids doing?"
Maxime blinked a few times. "My orchids?"
"Yes, last we spoke before the tournament, you were saying that one of them was not doing too well?"
"Oh yes, I discovered the cause. Apparently that particular species acts like an attractant to my kneazles. Much like catnip does to regular cats."
"Let me guess, Francoise."
Maxime huffed. "Yes, my problem child. It is not enough that he devours almost any plant but he just had to have a taste for that particular orchid. All of the toys I get for him, all the food and treats I shower him in, and he has to chew on an extremely delicate plant that is difficult to maintain in the best of conditions."
"Perhaps he is jealous," Dumbledore offered.
"I spoil him the most as it is," she sighed. Her eyes widened as their bracelets fell off. "Well, that is some subtle but delightful magic."
"30 points to Gryffindor for your observation and willingness to share said observation," Dumbledore said warmly. "A fine thing to encourage improving relations between the students."
"So the perpetrators will not be punished?!" McGonagall asked, incredulous.
"I never said that," Dumbledore chuckled. "But like in magic, the intent behind the act will be factored."
-0-
"Ow! Hey, you're pulling my ear off!" George squealed.
"I'll do worse than that!" Alicia growled and pulled George into the corner.
"You won't, we didn't involve you!" George rubbed his ear. "We were careful to cast a Notice-Me-Not Charm around the box distinctly for you lot."
"I wondered why we didn't see the box," Katie mused.
"We worked hard on that. Do you know how hard it is to key specific people as exclusions in that spell? It took longer to figure that out than it did to figure out the spell chain," George said.
"Oh, well, thanks I guess," Angelina said, touched. "You two really did that for us?"
"Yeah. We knew if we got you three," he gestured at the Chasers, "we'd never hear the end of it and I like where my bat where it is thank you very much. Hermione wouldn't give us a moment's peace for the rest of the time we're here. We already messed with Ron and Ginny enough and Harry gave us the idea."
"Don't say that," Harry said weakly.
"Don't worry, we'd never grass you up," George said, patting him on the shoulder.
"So you two escaped punishment?" Hermione frowned.
"Nothing was proven," George said smugly. "I had to help gather the things though because someone said they saw me walking with boxes similar to the ones found in the boat and the carriage and the Houses. Since they couldn't prove they were the same boxes, they decided to punish me for past transgressions which I still don't think is fair but I'll take the reduced punishment. Cleaning is preferrable to detention."
"Where's Fred?" Alicia asked.
"Oh he's getting punished for improving international relations with Miss Esther," George grinned.
"Why aren't you being punished for that then?" Harry asked.
"Because Hans and I had a good conversation while Freddie and Esther were having a really good conversation," George said, waggling his eyebrows. He guffawed at Angelina and Alicia's groans. "He's going to get you something really nice for Christmas," he said to Harry.
"I hope you got your boredom out of your system," Alicia growled. "No more of that this year, do you hear me?"
"Loud and clear. We had our fun," George said, eyes sparkling.