I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters. They all belong to J.K. Rowling.
Chapter Twenty Three: Fred And George Eat Chaos For Breakfast
Lottie's Point of View
"Oh my god, it's their birthday like seven days."
"So that's a week then?" I asked Alex. She was studying the calendar on our dorm room wall instead of her Divination text book, "Shit, so it'll be April soon?"
"Well, yes! Their birthday has always been in April! Since they was born! Has, is and will be! That's how a birthday works!"
"The twins'll be eighteen then?"
"We need a party." Alex concluded, jumping up off the bed, "We need a party with balloons and decorations and firewhiskey!"
"You've certainly put some thought into that one." I nodded, sitting up and laying down my Transfiguration homework, "Well, you run into Hogsmeade and collect whatever you feel we'd need and I'll set a date and get the word going around."
"Great, bye." Alex rose a hand then zipped out of the room. You don't need time to organise a birthday bash, you just need an Alex.
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The first of April inconveniently fell on a Monday, so that meant 30th March was a Saturday and became solely dedicated by Alex to be the a whole day of the twin's birthday celebrations. I had brooded over breakfast about why 18 was more of a special birthday than 19 and 20, as well as later dragging 21 into the mix. I had also ended up in Hogsmeade again swapping lollies with George and the four of us taking shots in the Three Broomsticks. They would have gone all afternoon until I steadied Alex who steadied the twins, and we made it back to the common room for six o'clock where Harry had let off a popper and confetti was raining down, "SURPRISE!"
"You was mean to wait for the cue!" Alex snapped. Confetti landed in her hair as she stared Harry down. He cowered back behind the couch and mumbled several apologies before Alex forced him to speak up and finally accepted it. She then spun around and proclaimed, "PAAAAAAAAARRTTAAAAAAAYY!"
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It was getting on for midnight when everyone finally went to bed and we could start our clean up operation. It took until quarter to one, and the four of us opted for a fifteen minute rest before going to the dorms, "That was awesome."
"Don't thank me, thank her." I pointed across to Alex. Surprising, I believe the three of them was more intoxicated in the Three Broomsticks earlier that afternoon than they was at that moment, but Alex raised a bin bag to the twins when they stuck their thumbs up in her direction,
"Alrighty! It was Lot who spread the word!"
"So it wasn't all Alex!" George pointed an accusing finger at me and I shrugged,
"I can run about and talk to people quickly. Easy."
"It spread like wildfire." Alex said as she took a seat next to George on the opposing couch to me and Fred. I first began to suspect something was up when I noticed George and how he had began to awkwardly fiddle with his thumbs,
"Look." Fred started, leaning forward from his slouchy position, "There's something ... me and Georgie gotta tell you both."
"Oh Merlin, you're pregnant." Alex placed her hands on her cheeks and was beaming, "Congratulations!"
"Alex, come on." Fred said seriously. Nothing was much clearer, but I certainly knew something was up now. Alex fell back into the couch and Fred lent his elbows on his knees, "Well, you know that neither George or me are bothered about staying."
"Right ..." Alex nodded,
"And ... and we said we was thinking of you know, rebellion, showing some products, bit of promotion."
"Right ..." Alex frowned at George,
"And well ... well, erm ..."
"Where are you going with this?" I looked from Fred to George with a frown and a slightly curled lip, wondering and worried about what might pop out of one of their mouths next. They exchanged a nervous glance. Fred sighed, but then George blurted out,
"We're leaving." There was a pause in conversation, almost a pause in life. I was unsurprised and surprised at the same time. An opposite stream of emotions clashed and it produced a tidal wave in my stomach. The twins were leaving. My best buddies were leaving. George ... was leaving,
"Y'what."
"We're leaving."
"Yeah I thought that's what you said." Alex nodded slowly, the one to break the silence, "W-When exactly?"
"Erm ... the Friday before the ... exams begin." Fred uttered steadily. He and Alex then engaged in a tennis conversation,
"Ah, right so is that ... the OWL exams as in the ones which begin in over a months time or the NEWT exams as in the ones which begin a week on Monday?"
"Oh ... well ... erm ... we was ... the NEWT ones."
"So what, you going on the Sunday, yes?"
"Well no actually ... we was erm ... thinking of the ... Friday."
"So that's erm ... that's the Friday as in ... a week yesterday?" Alex's look was a daring one. It even struck fear through me, and my heart bled for Fred's current social situation,
"Well ... yes." Fred said all in a single breath, but it was drawn out so much it felt like he was never going to confirm or deny Alex's accusation. There was another silence period whilst nervous and sadden glances were exchanged between Fred and George and Alex and I, but the twins nor Alex and I looked at each other for a long while. It was like we had unknowing split ourselves into teams. It wasn't until I glanced up at Alex through the corner of my eye that our gazes caught, and in a blink she became the most sober, sensible one of us all and was immediately up and sending everyone to their dorm and to bed. I slumped into mine, head first into the pillow. I didn't cry like I and everyone was expecting. It wasn't going to change their minds.
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I leant my head onto George's shoulder and stared deep into the common room fire. In four days, it would be Monday. The day of our first N.E.W.T exam. I couldn't revise. Tomorrow was Friday, the day Fred and George were executing their final rebellion against Umbridge and was leaving Hogwarts for good. I had tried to promise myself I wouldn't cry, since I still hadn't done up to then, but I knew it wouldn't happen, "Please don't be sad."
"I'm not sad."
"You are sad." George insisted, forcing me to sit up and look him in the eye. I struggled, but I could just about do it. He laid his palm on my cheek and sighed,
"Where's my strong, independent Lottie eh?"
"She left."
"But what about the new year resolution return of the lion hearted Lottie that was in 1993 and four?"
"She got worried and hid in the wardrobe with the kittens." I muttered. George smiled gently and pulled me up to him,
"We'll be fine. I'll be fine."
"It's not you I'm worried about. It's me."
"See, I knew she was in there somewhere."
"Why can't you just stay here and cause mayhem?" I invited myself into George's lap. "I can deal with that! Really! I can! I can get loads of tablets! Mrs Figg would raid a factory if I needed! She would! I--"
"Lottie, don't make this--"
"I'll make it as difficult as I want!"
"You're just making it harder for yourself, you know--"
"I can't let you! I can't! You won't!"
"Come on Lottie, ple--"
"George!" I shouted and grabbed his cheeks. George's eyes were stunned and I panicked a little because I didn't have a plan after that. I improvised and smashed my lips onto George's, doing the first thing I could think of which was to begin trying to bribe him into staying. I tried all night after that, any tiny idea that crept into my head I gave a shot at. Some were weird and some were wonderful, and the final one I could remember was telling him how perfectly his hand fit into mine. I was probably lying, considering how much bigger George is than me, but what harm was there to trying?
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I first began to stir at quarter to six. I knew immediately that it was now Friday, and that meant I had to cram as much time in with Fred and George as possible. It didn't and probably wasn't all that long, but having them leave for an extended period of time was going to be like when I had to leave Lupin at the end of Summer and Christmas. It would be sad, it'd take a few weeks to get used to write letters instead of holding a normal conversation and it would bring stomach wrenching times when you missed them too much.
I frowned at the arm draped over me, and I slowly turned and followed it up to be met by George's breath rhythmically hitting my face and blowing back a rouge piece of hair. My head fell back into the pillow, "Merlin."
"M'ow?" I grunted and slowly moved to lean over the side of my bed,
"Dingo?"
"M'ow."
"Hey buddy, what's up?" I reached over to his head and scratched behind his ear. He purred continuously, even when I stopped and he trotted across the room and back into his and Tiddles' den of mine and Alex's clothes. Come to think of it,
"L-L ... Lottie?" George's arm weight lifted off of my hips and he stretched out fully. Once he had rubbed his eyes, his head also rose and fell after he'd looked around, "Merlin."
"I said ..." I wanted to make a joke, but I didn't have one, so I rolled onto my back and held up my hand partly, "No. No, it's fine ... it's--"
"You called me handsome last night." George said quietly, nuzzling up to my neck. I tried to shy away from him,
"George, stop it."
"Come on." He whispered, and tried again but ended up brushing his nose on my shoulder,
"I said no, I don't even remember you getting up here.
"No, but I bet it was fantastic."
"I don't even remember me getting up here." I contemplated that statement for a moment, racking my brains for an answer and when I got none, tried to throw George out of my bed, "Get dressed, get out."
"You don't mean that."
"I mean-- ... you're right I don't but ... just get out."
"You wasn't saying that las--"
"Oh Georgie, get over yourself." I rolled my eyes at him then looked back to the ceiling,
"You don't remember, do you?" I heard the grin on George's face when he spoke, I blinked slowly as my head twisted to again face George,
"Pardon?"
"I remember."
"I--"
"You don't know nothing."
"You are a very evil man."
"I bet you like it."
"I bet you like it."
"That was a poor comeback, Lottie." George shook his head and I giggled, flipping onto my side to face him. I guess I'll find out how I got here someday, I hadn't got anything left to lose so ... it didn't really matter, "I really like you, you know."
"I should hope so!" I smiled and raised my eyebrows. George shook his head and pulled me up to his side. His eyes seemed to be staring deep into mine again, and it made me warm inside. Go on Lottie, do something brave! "You know something?"
"I'm sure you'll tell me." George said quietly, reaching my nose this time and stroking it with his,
"Well, I don't know how long ago it was but ... I think I started falling in love with you." Mine and George's eyes were still interlocked. I couldn't place where what I had just said had come from, but maybe it was lionhearted Lottie pushing out some truth from weird, wimpy Lottie. George's feet had got tangled with mine somewhere along the way and he was the one to break our silence,
"I'm sure I've already gotten there."
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I slowly cracked open the dorm door, looking around the small area of stairway I could see. I put my robe's hood over my hair and waved George over. He crept out first, placing his foot onto the stairs and making them instantly turn into a slide which aided the speed of our get away. He ungracefully fell and rode down it backwards with me sliding just behind. We landed at the bottom of the stairs in a messy and giggling heap. George and I untangled ourselves and was up standing sharply, straight faced in a deserted common room and with still unanswered questions of the last night. I was the first to giggle and break the silence, which seemed to give George permission to lace his fingers through mine and pull us into our first kiss of his last day at Hogwarts. I smiled up at him, "I hope you'll always be that good."
"At kissing you?"
"Oh yeah, that too." George grinned, and wrapped his arms around my middle when he heard the footsteps which had also just caught my hearing,
"Guys!" Alex's unmistakably voice echoed around the stair case, and she as well as Fred appeared from the boys dormitory. I looked in shock to George and then quickly back to Alex, where she held up her and Fred's also entwined fingers and beamed proudly, "Guys! Look! We're together now! We do this!"
"Oh my." George steadied me and managed to successfully kept me up right. Alex was still grinning at me and I smiled weakly,
"Please Fred, don't let your ... your erm ...
"Girlfriend." Fred confirmed. I guided myself down to sit on the floor,
"Yeah, erm ... your ... Don't let Alex kill my girlfriend."
"Wow, that's that's that's that's .... that's unexpected." I put a hand on the floor as Alex skipped and Fred walked across to George and I. She rolled her eyes and pulled me back up sharply. Alex winked at me, and we was left standing in a hand holding square of relation and friendships. It was like we was a little family of our own,
"Watch this!" Alex winked again then stood on her toes and kissed Fred's cheek, "I can do that too now!"
"Please slow down, this is too much for digestion."
"Come on, Lupin! You can hardly this shit!" Alex then repeated kissed Fred, and his ears got progressively redder. It became more erm ... natural as you got used to the sight,
"Maybe we could ... we could do it in sync!" I joked, but Alex seemed pretty keen on the idea. I smiled at how soft Alex had become, practically over night, and when I looked at Fred and tried to ask him where his confidence had come from, he merely winked at me and suggested we fetched breakfast.
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"That is ... absolutely fantastic." Hermione beamed as Alex told her her news. Hermione put her hands on her cheeks and looked at me,
"All the Weasley's are dropping like flies, there's only like about three to get your teeth around now."
"Alex, please." Ginny sighed, "They're my brothers."
"I guess there's still you as well if you're into that." Alex shrugged, chasing her egg yolk around the plate with her fork. Ginny sighed even more deeply this time, then collected her cutlery and moved to the other side of Alex. I rolled my eyes whilst Alex remained oblivious,
"You look peaky." Hermione pointed out the fact and her knife,
"I'm still in medical shock." I nodded, moving my eyes in Alex's direction. Hermione laughed lightly,
"Mind you, the bummer is that Fred and George plannin' on leavin' today." Alex shrugged. Hermione's giggle stopped instantly and she stared at Alex, mouth hung open slightly,
"I wish I could make a joke out of that one but I can't." I curled my lip,
"Did you just hear Alex?!"
"About Fred and George leaving?" Hermione nodded vigorously, "Yeah. Why?"
"Are you not going to stop them?!"
"It's the Weasley twins."
"Yes, but that is completely irrelevant because it's also you and Alex. I think you and her could stop them in a heartbeat."
"I could shoot them down with an arrow in a heartbeat." Alex was staring darkly through Hermione. We both frowned at her slightly for a moment, then Hermione looked back at me expectantly,
"Well, I gave George my virginity and Alex gave Fred a sugar quill and a couple o' dung bombs but that doesn't seem to have got them so ... probably we can't."
"I can't believe this."
"Hermione, come on! You're more distraught than Lottie!"
"I am not! You can see in her eyes! Her heart is bleeding and breaking right in front of us right now!" Hermione stabbed her bacon violently and almost missed her mouth in an attempt to dramatically place it in. She chewed and tears welled in her eyes. I presummed she had bit her lip,
"I don't want to deny I'm not utterly heartbroken, because I am, I'm just not going to be typically dramatic about it." I nodded, placing my spoon into the jam jar,
"George is leaving."
"It's not fair!" I cried aloud, then began to wail hysterically. Hermione and George were quick over the table to attempt to comfort me, whilst Alex sat almost triumphantly with her toast.
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"Come on! I wanted to get this show on the road at five!"
"Shut up, I'm coming!" I told Fred as I enter the common room, tying my hair into a high pony tail and shaking my robe sleeves back down. The four of us were still in our full school uniforms, at least until--
"Alex! There is something not in this room I wish to show you! Yes! Let us go!" Fred grabbed her hand and began to pull her from the common room and out into the corridor,
"What are you doin' you crazy fo--"
"Play along!" Fred hissed, then laughed awkwardly and raised a hand to me as I stared at him and the portrait door closed,
"Subtle." I pursed my lips slightly. George laughed and shook his head as he pushed himself up from where he'd been leaning against the table,
"I know this is ... probably a bit of a cliché but--"
"Oh, who doesn't love a little cliché?" I grinned as George put his arms around my waist,
"I want you to have this. Keep this." He shrugged his left shoulder,
"Your shoulder?"
"No, my--"
"Your ear?"
"No, my--"
"Your--"
"My robe." George shrugged his shoulder again, "You see? My robe. I want you to have my robe."
"That's actually quite original." I nodded, "You don't get no robe giving in muggle books."
"Still, I want you to keep it." George let go of me to take off his robe and he handed it to me, "Just ... for when you miss me. Or when Alex's innuendo's get too much and you need a quick ticket to happy place."
"A qu-- ... aren't you going to need this though?"
"Oh no, I have another." George easily strode across the room to the table and held up another robe, "We might be poor but Mum's always got us prepared."
"But what--"
"I don't need it now. I don't, but you might." George pushed his robe back into my arms as I tried to hand it to him. He then pulled up the second rove over his shoulder and rose his eyebrows in direction of the girl's dormitory stairs,
"You really are something else, George Weasley." I rolled my eyes at him then smiled and tiptoed up to kiss his cheek. He snuck in for the lips, so I rejected him all together and nipped his robe up to our dorm. Quick ticket to a happy place? Bless him.
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"Yeah, that's it. You follow Filtch and make sure he's not on our tail whilst we do all the fun stuff." Alex whispered in a mocking voice which I presumed was meant an impression of Fred. True, the idea of rebellion probably wasn't one of been crammed under a cabinet with Alex's arse in your face but still, you take what you can in this world. Whilst George and Fred were erecting a swamp in middle of the Charms corridor, Alex and I had been giving the job of keeping Filtch and Umbridge away from the scene. So, we kinda let Umbridge slide. It wasn't intentional, she's just scary. We'd managed to follow Filtch back to her office which he was now emerging from with a piece of parchment held closely to his chest. I had never seen him hobble so fast, but it still seemed to take forever until he was out of the room and Alex could get her arse out of my face. She wiggled out from the cabinet and grabbed her guitar she'd left leaning against the cabinet. I shuffled out and dusted myself down, pulling a cobweb from my hair and shaking it disgustedly from my finger tips,
"Lottie!"
"What, Alex?!" I asked her irritably as I straightened my skirt,
"I didn't actually say anything but come on!" She was standing next to the door and was waving me over. I jogged over to her as she rotated her guitar to rest on her back,
"Lottie!"
"What is it?!" I hissed at Alex,
"It's not me! It's him!" Alex pointed behind me and I turned,
"Harry?!"
"Hey." He stopped just in front of me and was panting,
"What the-- What-- What are you doing?!"
"I dunno!"
"What?!"
"I-I-I went to number twelve! I knew her chimley wasn't under survalence so--"
"You left Hogwarts?!"
"Well erm ... kinda. Yeah."
"Why?!"
"To see Sirius! And your dad actually, he was there."
"That's because he lives there!" I flicked Harry's head, "Idiot brother!"
"We're leaving now." Alex announced, slipping out of the door with her hand on her guitar,
"Well, wait a minute!" I told her, rushing out with Harry trying to keep up with me,
"Come on! Filtch is gone now! We're already let Umbridge slide!"
"We?! Who's this we?!" I exclaimed,
"Me and you!" Alex called back. I still hadn't caught up with her,
"Oh no, this had nothing to do with--"
"Harry! Yeah, I know." We skidded to a halt outside the entrance hall. It was almost heaving with students and there was a great deal of commotion. It looked like the whole school had gathered into the space. And whose fault is it?
"Fred and George ... they're--"
"Idiots. Yeah, I know." I said to Harry, trying to tiptoe high enough to see over heads and confirm it was actually them causing the problems. Wait, who am I trying to kid? Of course it's them causing the problems,
"Shitty shitty shit." I watched as Alex waded into the crowd. I grabbed H's robe and tugged him in after her, "It's like looking for little children."
"But I think--"
"Yes, but nobody says your name first do they?" Alex stopped and grew a little to see over the crowd. I ducked behind her and Harry was facing me,
"What is--"
"Go and find Ron and Hermione. Whatever it is you did, she can translate it for me later." I patted Harry on the back and he nodded, shimmying around and scurrying off into the sea of people. Alex was on the move again,
"It'd be easier if we just nipped behind--"
"So!" A silence fell across the entrance hall. It was easy to decide Umbridge was the one about to bellow out some boring crap. With her speaking, every student in the hall stopped moving and talking simultaneously, making it a thousand times easier to navigate ourselves through the crowd, "You thought it would be amusing to turn my school into a swap, did you?"
"Pretty amusing, yeah." Fred said, smug and without a hint of fear. Alex clambered up onto a decorative table at the back of the entrance hall, next to the arch leading to the dungeons, and swung her guitar around to the front of her body. I leaned my back and one foot against the wall next to her. Umbridge had cornered the twins next the Great Hall Entrance, and Filtch was a few stairs behind her clutching the same piece of paper he'd took from her office,
"I've got the form!"
"The form?" I asked no one,
"Just listen!" Alex hissed. She was sat with one leg crossed and silently tuning her guitar, which was quite remarkable to witness,
"Headmistress, the form ... I have it ... I've got the form and I've got the whips waiting--"
"Whips?" My ears pricked up, "Did he say whips?"
"He said whips." Alex confirmed,
"Oh, let me do it now ..."
"Filtch, overjoyed at the idea of being able to whop Fred and George Weasley." I frowned as I spoke. That was the weirdest sentence I would ever say,
"Now, now, now, that's a little bit too kinky for me." Alex moved her neck slightly,
"Very good, Augustus."
"Ar-Argus." Filtch corrected Umbridge. I snorted slightly,
"The poor man." Alex sighed,
"Yes ... Very well. Boys," Umbridge turned to the twins, "You two are about to find out what happens to wrong doers in my school."
"You know what?" Fred said. Alex did a single, dramatic strum on her guitar. I noticed Harry turn towards her and grin, "I don't think we are."
"Aren't you?!" Alex shouted. Fred's serious look was beginning to break as he turned to George,
"George, I think we've outgrown full time education."
"Fred, I've been feeling that way myself." George nodded,
"Hey! Guys!" I shouted, concealing it slightly more than Alex had done, "You guys should should test your talents in the real world!" I brought my hand down from my mouth. George looked at me and winked. I slowly winked back, and he broke into a grin,
"Definitely." George said. Alex then stood up on the table and her guitar broke into a complicated, brilliant riff of dramatic sounding notes as the twins raised their wands and together shouted,
"Accio brooms!" There was a loud crash in the distance,
"I can't believe they didn't think of this before now. I mean--"
"MIND YOUR HEADS, BITCHES! AIN'T NO REASON FOR THEM TWINS TO BE MERCIFUL WITH YOU TONIGHT" Alex interupted me. The twin's brooms appeared from around the corner leading from Umbridge's office, still with their own iron pegs and chains attached. They stopped sharply in front of their owners, and Alex's guitar playing got progressively louder,
"You won't be seeing us." Fred told Umbridge, swinging his leg over his broom,
"Yeah, don't keep in touch." George followed. He looked over and nodded once in my direction. I nodded back,
"Unless." Fred pointed his wand at me and then Alex, who was now slightly resembling Ozzy Osbourne with her eccentric guitar playing, "You hurt either of them. Then remember us. And remember that you won't see us." Fred came an inch away from grabbing Umbridge's nose with his wand, then he kicked the floor with George not too far behind. They did a lap of the entrance hall,
"STOP THEM! GET THEM! NOW! STOP THEM!" Umbridge yelled and was frantically waving her arms. The Inquisitorial Squad was trying to chase them both. The twins skimmed the crowd, high fiving all the extended hands they could. Fred was doing a flip when George flew over to me. He extend his hand and grabbed mine, pulling me up to his face. We locked lips for a matter of seconds, before he pulled away and looked into my eyes,
"I love you." The room went silent to me. I couldn't hear the crowds yells, but I knew their mouths were moving. I felt my eyebrows raise and George flew off again, suspending himself next to Fred fifteen foot in the air as his twin shouted out to the crowd. Sound began to float back,
"If anyone wants a swamp, as the one demonstrated, come to ninety three, Diagon Alley! Weasley's Wizards Wheezes! Our new premises!"
"YOU WHAT?!" Alex yelled. She was still playing her riffs, only her eyes had now flew open and she was half glaring, half grinning at Fred,
"Half all prices for any students who promise to use our products to get rid of this old bat!" George nodded towards Umbridge. She still seemed frantic,
"Give her hell from us, Alex!"
"I CAN DO ANYTHING!" Alex bellowed in reply to Fred. She finished her guitar solo as the twins did a final lap of the entrance hall then bursted through the main doors. The crowd of students bustled to get out of the doors and watch them fly off into the sunset. The noise gradually died in the hall. I noticed Umbridge stormed off in direction of her office, Filtch running along on her tail and still clutching his piece of parchment. Alex and I slowly walked to the main doors and watched the dots that were Fred and George fade into the distance. George's words still replayed in my head, over and over and over and over. I raised a shaking hand to my mouth. Alex looked round to me,
"You okay?" I couldn't reply. She clasped her hands over her own mouth, "He asked you to marry him, didn't he?!"
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