*George's POV*
Fred came in late that night looking exhausted. I had never been jealous of how he loved Haylie I thought of her as family and a best friend and the extra twin we never had. But the fact the Fred would sneak out leaving me behind was upsetting considering we did everything together. Rarely were we apart but lately we have been. Haylie had become one of us that didn't bother me but the fact that Freddie was more concerned with Haylie was not a good sign. I figured I would talk to him in the morning since he was half a sleep when mum walked him up to our room. The room was eerily quiet without Haylie in the room. I just lay there for a few hours staring up at the ceiling and thinking about all of this.
A few hours later I heard the door creak open a little. It was quiet then there was the padding of bare feet across the floor. I turned silently to see who it was. Ginny was standing there crying. She fell onto Haylie's bed and wept. I climbed down from the top bunk and went and sat down on the bed startling Ginny a bit. I scooped her up in my arms. She was still young. She was only 8.
"I- I miss her!" She sobbed into my arms. she then buried her face in my shoulder. I made shushing sounds and stroked her hair.
"I miss her too. She will be home soon I'm sure." I reassured her. Naturally Ginny had our fiery red hair. She was the only girl to be born in two generations. She and Haylie were the best of friends even though Ginny was younger, She was included in all of Haylie's plots. It was always interesting to see how the two got along together. Ginny would come in late at night if she couldn't sleep and she would crawl into the bed with Haylie. Haylie may have a different last name but she was defiantly our sister. She even had redish brown hair so she still fit in alright.
I sat there with Ginny in my arms as she slept. I remembered that first morning with Haylie. We had come running down stairs after waking Percy and Charlie and Bill. We ran into the kitchen (the safe house) and found a little girl sitting there. Fred and I had screeched to a stop too stunned to talk. We looked at each other and I remember our faces mirroring each others. We looked back at the little girl sitting at our kitchen table. Mum was cooking and she looked up. "Oh boys! your up!" She waited a second then we heard Bill and Charlie clomping down the stairs and Percy fallowing not far behind. I shared a grin with Fred and we ran into the kitchen further. We ran and grabbed a piece of toast each and quickly sat down at the table and pretended we had been eating the whole time.
Bill and Charlie rushed into the kitchen soaking wet and Percy came in covered in slimy goop. The little girl stifled a laugh making Mum look up. Fred and I burst into laughter at all of them walking into the kitchen. Dad chose that moment to walk into the room. He took one look at the boys and asked "What was is this morning?" trying to stifle a grin.
"Buckets of water." Bill and Charlie grumbled.
"Some sticky stuff." Percy whined causing Fred and I to laugh even harder than we already had been.
"Oh that was good!" I exclaimed
"Yeah you should have seen your faces!" Fred added on.
"Fred, George no more pranks this morning." Mum scolded. "We have a new member of the family."
Fred and I shared puzzled looks. Mum wasn't having another kid. And who was the little girl? She wasn't a cousin or anything I would have remembered her.
"Who could-" I started
"-Possibly be joining the family?" Fred finished.
"This is Haylie." Mum went to stand behind the chair that the little girl was sitting in. "Her parents aren't around anymore so she is going to live with us from now on. I want you all to take good care of her and make her feel welcome. And no pranks!" She said sending pointed looks at Fred and I. We gave her innocent looks that she obviously saw right through I mean come on, The woman had lived with us since before we were born. And we had been pranking since age two. We liked being three because we could lift heavy things like buckets of water but we were still fast and small.
I looked closer at the little girl. She hadn't said a word since she got here. She was smaller than Fred and I but she was pretty and she looked about our age. Her hair was brown with a ton of red mixed in making it almost look like a purple red as apposed to our orange red hair. She looked scared and her yawns gave away that she was tired.
We ate quietly for once. Ok we may have made Percy's toast grow legs and run off the table but that was our favorite trick plus it made Haylie laugh. Her laugh was contagious. Her eyes lit up when she laughed and her whole face brightened. She didn't have many things with her. She had a copy of "The tales of Beadle the Bard" and a stuffed owl that flew when she told it to. She also had a snitch that didn't work anymore. She had some clothes and that was about it.
After breakfast Fred and I helped her move into her new room. Mum didn't want her to be alone so she moved in with us.
"Hey want to help us prank people?" Fred had asked her once her stuff was on her new bed and her clothes were put away.
"Um- sure?" She asked like she didn't know weather we were asking because we were told to or because we wanted her to tag along. Her voice was quiet and sounded like she hadn't used it for a while and when she had she had used it to scream. I had no idea then that that was exactly the case.
"Your owl could be really handy in a prank we have been wanting to do!" talked talked excitedly.
She smiled a bit then nodded and picked up her owl. We ran out of the room and grabbed one of our many make shift pranks. It was the goop we had woken Percy up with. Bill had gone back to sleep as he always did in the summer but yesterday we had figured out how to pick the lock on his door. If we entered however an alarm would go off. No human could go in but we tested stuffed animals and they worked. We told Haylie what to do and she set the owl up. The owl flew into Bill's room and dumped the goop on Bill she started awake making us all laugh. When he spotted us I yelled "Run!"
We ran through the house and out the back door. Haylie in tow though I doubt Bill would hurt her but he wouldn't hesitate to slug us. We ran through the yard and into one of the many bushes that surrounded our home. Bill ran past yelling. WE came out of hiding when he went back into the house to get cleaned up.
"Did you see-" I started and ended in a laughing fit.
"-his face?!" Fred finished for me both of us fell on the ground laughing. Haylie laughed as well just not as hard as us.
We soon sat up and faced her. "So which one of you is which?" She asked shyly
"I'm George." I said
"and I'm Fred." Fred said. "There is probably a way to tell us apart but if there is no one has told us it. You might ask Mum how she tells us apart." He said.
That was when I made our huge mistake "So where are your parents?" I asked. An innocent question I thought. Her eyes got wide and she began to cry . She clutched at her chest and let out a small strangled scream. Fred and I shared scared glances.
"George go get Mum!" Fred said as he tried desperately to shush her.
I ran into the house calling desperately for mum but ran into a still mad Bill. "There you are you little brat!" He said picking me up.
"Bill put me down!" I cried scared for Haylie.
"Oh no you don't! I know your type."
"Honestly Bill! We need Mum! Haylie is crying and screaming and we don't know what to do!" I cried desperate for him to listen. He took a look out the window and must have seen Haylie because he called loudly for Mum. She came rushing down the steps.
"Whats wrong?" She asked
"Haylie!" I said rushing out the door with Bill and Mum fallowing behind me.
"What happened?" Mum asked as she picked up Haylie and hugged her close.
"George just asked her where her parents went!" Fred said defensively "She started to cry and clutch her chest. She also screamed a little." Both of us were in tears hiding behind Bill wondering what we had done that had hurt our new friend.
"Its alright boys. Haylie's parents died last night. She probably is just having a flash back. They may come every now and then." Mum explained making us feel so much better.
Haylie eventually stopped crying and just kind of sat there numbly for a while. Fred and I both had taken it upon ourselves to always be there for her when a flash back came. From then on she had been the triplet to us. We were only a few weeks apart from each other so she was considered our triplet. She also became out best friend.
I set Ginny down on Haylie's bed and climbed into my own bed. I soon fell asleep. I had resolved to myself that I was going to talk to Fred tomorrow morning. And with that peace of mind I fell asleep.