MANY THINGS WERE a first for Wendy, but finally there was something she wasn't the only one to try first; Hogsmeade. Unfortunately, there were some problems with her permission. She didn't have any guardian to sign her permit as they were, understandably, not present. But she fought for herself claiming to be old enough to be an adult.
"I understand your situation, Stone," said professor McGonagall in full compassion, "but rules are rules."
"But rules say wizards and witches underage require permission," she made sure no one was around to listen before saying the next part as she whispered, "I'm twenty-nine!"
"Yes, in a body of a thirteen year old, we must remember, and so we must treat you as such!"
Wendy didn't have much to say after that. McGonagall was right, she couldn't have gone and will never be able to until she would reach the proper age. She looked down, defeated, and took a step back.
"I am sorry, Wendy—Harry will be staying too, you should keep him company." She said before leaving to accompany the Gryffindor students, who were new in Hogsmeade.
Wendy returned inside and tried searching for Harry, though, he was nowhere to be found. She thought he probably followed after the others with his invisible cloak. She was quite envious of him in that moment, but she had so much to study any ways. She decided to settle in the Gryffindor Common Room on one of the soft couches in there. The room showed in the movies were quite similar to what Hogwarts really had, although that room appeared to be bigger, as well as the fireplace.
It was around Halloween, so every first and second year was outside in the court or in the Great Hall for their food and snacks. While every other year that did not go to Hogsmeade was because they wanted to prepare for their respective exams earlier. Wendy was alone in the Common Room and when she heard footsteps coming from the top stair case she couldn't help but gasp a little.
"Wendy, darling!" Fred and George said dramatically from the top of the stairs, "Oh, wherefore art thee hither?"
"Didn't know wizards know of Shakespearian English." She chuckled putting her book away.
"We shouldn't—" Fred started.
"—Shakespeare was, in fact, a squib. As squibs are able with words he decided to make stories, I guess." George explained.
"Really?!" She asked incredulously.
"Nope, no idea. We just went to the library to search a few common muggle history to impress you." Fred admitted.
They started walking down the stairs to join her in the Common Room, "why are you here then, shouldn't you be at Hogsmeade?"
"No permit, no Hogsmeade."
"That's rubbish." Fred scoffed.
The two sat down on the carpet in front of her. Although she knew the rooms were kept clean she still couldn't resist herself, "Stand up you two! The floor is dirty!"
The two stood right up in a second. Baffled by the girl's tone, they decided to sit down beside her instead, one each at her side.
"You're just like this little girl we met in Egypt this summer." George commented.
Wendy stiffened at his comment. She knew, by that time, that the twins were in fact the two boys who helped her the times she lost herself during her early years.
"Uh, right, you went to Egypt?!" She asked trying to keep the focus out from her, or her little version.
"Yeah, but you already knew that. Ron told you about it the first night we met." George observed.
"He couldn't talk about anything else for the first few weeks." Fred laughed, "The princess gave us these two ribbons."
With that the two shot their right arms up and showed off their wrist. There it was, the ribbons she gave out nearly thirty years ago, not faded one bit, still bright and yellow like the colour of the sunflowers she had on her dress the day she got lost.
"Who's the princess?" She asked quite confused.
"The little girl we told you about, we call her like that because her actual name was too long." Fred said.
"I sort of forgot about it, but it's right at the tip of my tongue." George said as he pressed out his tongue.
"Well, it doesn't matter now, does it?" Wendy said as she gathered all her books and stood up from the couch to go to the library, leaving Fred and George together with their tongue out.
"Wendy, wait a min—" they called out together.
She turned around as the brown soft curls bounced off her shoulder. Fred and George observed her and couldn't help but remember their princess as she turned around to say goodbye when she was off with her parents.
"No." George was first to realise it, "But that's not—"
"It certainly isn't," Fred agreed, "but it is!"
Wendy dropped her books on the table near to her and made sure no one else was around. She wasn't sure what to do, Dumbledore was quite clear when he said no one was allowed to know, and she made sure she didn't tell anyone. She came closer to the twins and with her hands tied together she looked at them.
"Please—Please—don't tell anyone."
"But how?" Fred asked.
Wendy shrugged her shoulders, she really didn't know either. She sat down again in front of the Weasley twins explaining everything that happened to her in the past few months.
"So... you're old." Fred pointed out.
"No, but she was born 1990," observed George, "and it's 1993 now, which means she is, actually, just a toddler."
"Yeah, but she looks like a teenager!"
"I guess it was just right. She's 29 and she came back to a time where she's supposed to be 3—maybe magic got confused and just went halfway."
Fred nodded in approval.
"That," said Wendy, "makes no sense."
"It does." They both said and Fred grinned at the sudden idea that came to him, "you know? We can bring you to Hogsmeade."
George looked at his brother, "you mean—?"
"No!" Wendy opposed to the idea she already knew they were having.
The Marauders Map was supposed to go to Harry, not her. It was set on stone, and Wendy shall make sure it will happen.
"But you don't even kno—"
"I do, and it's a bad idea." Wendy regretfully said. She would have loved to use the famous Marauders Map, see every person and every room of the castle. But there were things more important than simple wants.
"Just this once." Fred tried to change her mind, "we sneak out and come back real fast."
"Just to show you Hogsmeade." George agreed.
Wendy thought about it carefully, "two conditions."
The two nodded, eager to finally go, "I get to say 'mischief managed' and if we get caught I'll blame the two of you."
They both grinned and reached their hand out to seal the deal, Wendy smiled and crossed her arms in order to hold both hands. They held her hand and pulled her away, still with crossed arms, "Let's go!"
They pulled her along and dragged her towards the nearest secret passage they knew.
"Wait, I need a jacket!"
They were now in Zonko's Joke Shop. The twins couldn't go to Hogsmeade without passing by the shop, and, in all honesty, Wendy could see why. The place was bright, colourful, and full of magic. So many students from Hogwarts were there and Fred and George did their best to hide Wendy from their sight.
They swiftly made it into one of the farthest shelves without bumping into anyone, that's how well the twins knew the shop. Fred grabbed a pair of glasses from the top shelf and put it on Wendy's face.
"That should do it," he said.
"What?" She asked handling with the thick pair of glasses.
George fixed it on her nose better, pushing away her hands, "these are to cover you up, we don't want Snitching Slytherins to snitch on you."
"Are those Clark Kent glasses?" She chuckled alone. Noticing the joke just brushed off their head she thought of something non-muggle to say, "you think these glasses would do the job?"
Fred grinned, "princess, unless they knew it was you behind those glasses not even your mother could recognize you."
Wendy's smile faded away. In her current state her mother really wouldn't be recognizing her. She was younger than she was supposed to be, she doubted those glasses would be needed for that.
Fred instantly regretted his words. How foolish of him to mention her parent. He looked at George for help and he rushed some ideas out, "let's go pay for that and let's head to Madam Puddifoot's tea shop!"
Fred frowned at him for his terrible idea, but it was too late; the words were spoken. He looked at Wendy and he saw her smile and nod. Zonko was quite shocked to see the twins with a third party that wasn't Jordan Lee. But he shrugged it off and got the two galleons from the twins.
"You shouldn't have paid for it..." Wendy said as they walked towards the tea shop.
"It was nothing! Now let's go!" George said looking at the entrance of the shop.
Unlike Zonko's shop, Madam Puddifoot's was quite girly. Wendy saw the grimacing faces the two showed, "do you even wanna go inside here?"
The two were fast to reply, "no."
"But if you do want to, we will go." George forced a crooked smile, hoping the girl would get the message.
She chuckled, and was tempted to enter just to see them in an uncomfortable environment, but she felt in debt for the glasses and suggested to go to the Three Broomsticks Inn. The two cheered and happily skipped their way to the pub.
Inside Wendy took a seat and the twins sat on each side of her.
"What would you like to order?" A woman asked as soon as they were settled.
"Two butterbeers and..." The two looked at Wendy waiting for her order.
"Uhm, same?" She said unsure, but she didn't want to make the woman wait.
Soon the woman came back with three butterbeers for the three kids.
Wendy tried a sip and the chill Sprite like taste tickled her tongue and went down her throat and leaving a smooth feeling, just like butter would. Shortly after the taste of sugar engulfed her and made her giggle a bit. She definitely will have a sugar rush after this.
"Is this... your first time?" Fred studied her reactions to the drink.
She smiled and take a bigger gulp of the drink as she nodded.
"No way!" George screamed loud enough for the two men beside them to look over their table, "you never had butterbeer before?"
Wendy liked her lips, "Never!"
"Are there more things you never tried before?"
"Most of the things in the Wizarding World are my firsts," she said unaware of the plots inside the twins' minds.
"We will have so much fun."
Wendy looked over at the two with their plotting grin on their face. She was still unsure whether it was okay for them to know about her situation, but she was glad she finally had someone to share her burden with.
notes:
This is quite longer than normal I think. But I enjoyed writing about these three so much I wanted a bit more of their time together in here.
Here's another chapter. Three in one day. Like the three mischievous kids. Like the Three Broomsticks.
Sorry if it sounds kind of rushed, but it really is rushed!