"Mum! I can't find my wand!"
My sister Ophelia pops her head into my doorway, "Mum and dad are going to kill you." She sings before narrowly missing the shoe I throw at her.
My mum comes into my room with her hands on her hips and I know I've done it now, "Fred Weasley I swear to Godric if you lost your wand." She looks at the mess that is my room, "You're not even halfway packed! Your sisters are packed. What example are you setting?"
"None at all apparently," I grumble.
My mum takes her wand out and waves it in the air a few times. All my clothes and books and things soar from the floor and into my trunk. I dodge my history book so it doesn't smack me in the head and look at her. "Why couldn't you have done that in the first place?" I say with a smile on my face.
My mum rolls her eyes and gives me the same look that she gives dad when he cracks a really bad joke, "Find your wand, Freddie." She says it very seriously but she's got a smile on her face.
Suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Fred Weasley. Freddie Weasley. My mum and dad run a joke shop in Diagon alley called Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes along with my uncle Ron. There are some perks of owning a joke shop. First, every little kid that comes in here thinks your Merlin himself when you pass him a skiving snack box or a bottle of un-no-poo. Second, there's a lot of attractive witches that come by. The downside? Working with your family.
I come from a really big family. Like really big. My nan and my pops had like seven kids, and those kids minus uncle Charlie and uncle Fred, all had kids. My mum and dad had the most. Five. Five kids all working in a joke shop from before they could even stand up by themselves. I love all my siblings though, they're annoying as all hell but I'd die for them if I had to. Don't let my mum hear that though, she hates when I say that.
I'm the oldest out of the bunch, fifteen years old. Then there's my younger sisters, twins. Ophelia and Cassiopeia (I know, they got cool names and I'm stuck with Fred? It's totally unfair), they're both twelve turning thirteen soon. Then there's my little brother Theodore who's ten I think... I dunno I haven't really been paying attention all that much to his birthdays. And finally, there's my baby sister Annabeth. She turned eight not too long ago. I'd do anything that grubby handed little weirdo told me to do and she knows it.
Anyways, right now I have to find my wand. And if I don't dad will literally hang me upside down. When my uncle Fred died during the second wizarding war, my dad took his wand. Then gave it to me when I turned eleven, I know... super big responsibility. And if I lost it dad would cry. Mum would cry. Bet you a hundred galleons that nan and pops would cry too... actually scratch that I don't have a hundred galleons.
"You're looking for your wand right?" I turn around and Annabeth is standing in my doorway.
"Yeah, don't tell Dad," I say back to her.
She shifts a little, she's got both hands behind her back, "Sorry Freddie. I took it to practice with." She pulls the wand out from behind her and carefully comes in my room and gives it to me, "I just want to go with you. To Hogwarts."
"You'll go sooner than you think Annie don't you worry about that," I say ruffling the top of her hair.
She giggles which melts my heart a little, "Mummy says dinners ready." She turns sharply and skips out of my room. I follow close behind her, closing my door as I leave my room.
"So then I told Hugo that you have to battle the Basilisk to get sorted into your house but Rose overheard and hit me in the back of the head with a book. Which was totally unfair cause I was just trying to have a bit of fun you know?" Ophelia says as she scoops some green beans onto her plate, "I mean if your cousins can't tease you who can?"
"Well, it doesn't make sense to battle the Basilisk. Uncle Harry killed it eons ago." Cassie says taking the beans from Leah.
"Leave it to Uncle Harry to kill all the cool things at Hogwarts."
My mum looks at them from the fridge, "You're all lucky the chamber of secrets was dealt with before you were born. It was pretty freaky." She says with a smile.
I sit down at the table beside Theodore and start loading my plate with chicken pasta. Mum comes over and puts a pitcher of water in the middle of the table and sits down. Dad comes up from the shop with a big smile on his face, "Smells good in here." He says before coming over to the table. He kisses the top of Annabeth's head and kisses mum on the lips, disgusting behaviour if you ask me.
"You three are all packed, right? We've got to leave early tomorrow to get to Kings Cross on time." Dad says, taking a bite of his pasta.
Ophelia, Cassie, and I all nod a couple of times. "Fred's gone and lost his wand," Ophelia says sticking her tongue out at me.
"I found it," I say to her sticking my tongue out at her.
Dad laughs, he loves watching us bicker, says it reminds him of aunt Ginny and him when they were younger. "Speaking of wands and things, Fred can we promise not to get into any sort of trouble for at least the first week of school this time?" Mum says to me.
Here's another thing you should know about me. I tend to get into a lot of trouble at school, me and my cousin Louis pull a lot of pranks which neither of my parents really care about. They care more about the fact that I usually come home with a black eye and bruised knuckles. I've got a pretty bad temper, mum says I get it from her but I don't think I've ever seen her angry.
"Well if people stop saying shit..."
"Language Fred," Mum says sternly. Mum really doesn't like cussing which is really funny cause every other word out of her mouth is a cuss. Believe or not Theo's first word was fuck and dad laughed about it for a year.
I roll my eyes and try again, "If people stop saying stuff about my family then we wouldn't have a problem."
"I can fight my own battles Fred, you don't have to get all testosterony or whatever and throw kids across the corridors," Cassie says. It's true, she'll hex you into next year if you cross her but half the shi- stuff that people say is behind her back. They think she's an easy target, small, frail, quiet; and they tend to pick on her because of the goth thing she's got going on.
"All we are asking is for a week of silence. No letters from McGonagall saying that our son punched someone in the nose." Mum says. Dad winks at me though so I know that this little talk was mums idea. Rumour has it that dad beat up my uncle Draco when they were younger. He's always told me that as long as the person deserves it then I'm allowed to punch them. Mum doesn't know about that little talk.
"Yeah alright," I grumble.
"What do the kids say these days? Lit? That's lit? This is the right context for that right?" Dad says looking at all of us.
I don't have to see my siblings to know that each of them just rolled their eyes at the same time that I did, "Godric you're so embarrassing!" Ophelia groans.
"Oh come on your mum and I are hip. With the times. You've all got muggle cellphones don't you?" Dad says looking at mum who's got a big smile on her face.
"Your dad and I are cool," Mum says which earns another round of groans and eye rolls from all of us.
"How many other kids do you know that have parents who encourage dung bombs hmm?" Dad says casually, "Your mum and I got into loads of trouble when we were at Hogwarts. Along with Uncle Lee, Uncle Walter, Uncle Fred, and Auntie Em. We ruled the school."
"You and uncle Fred ruled the school, Dad. They've still got a bit of your swamp up on the fifth floor. Mum and the rest of them were just along for the ride." Cassie says.
Mum's eyes go wide which makes us all laugh, "And who told you that?" She snaps, she's not serious though cause her eyes are full of happiness.
"Uncle Freddie. He told me that he and dad always had to convince you to go do crazy things cause you would rather be locked in the library. Sort of what I do with Rosie all the time." Ophelia says.
The rest of dinner is loud and full of laughter like it always is. When I first started Hogwarts mum and dad sat me down at the kitchen table and told me all about what mum had to do during the war because when we learn about it at Hogwarts we don't get the full picture. It made me feel really bad for her and ever since I've always tried really hard to be funny so she's always got a hint of a smile on her face. I think dad does the same thing because he's nearly always cracking jokes and things.
"Alright. Theo, Annie, you're on dish duty. The rest of you hop downstairs and go make sure the shop is properly closed up and cleaned. Your mum and I will be down in a minute." Dad says when dinners over.
He and mum help clear the dishes off the table while the twins and I head downstairs into the shop. I always thought that twins meant identical. I mean that's what happened with dad and Uncle Fred. But Ophelia and Cass are nothing alike. For starters, Leah's got the Weasley red hair and Cass has mums black hair. Leah is also a lot more like dad, totally chaotic and would probably lose her head if it wasn't attached to her body, whereas Cass is like mum, level headed, but as I said before, she's really quiet. Not too sure where she gets that from.
"Do' ya think dad'll notice if I take a bunch of fireworks to school? Leah asks as she locks the shops door and pulls the blinds down.
"Do' ya think dad'll care if you take a bunch of fireworks to school?" I say back to her. I pull the brooms and things out of the cupboard and start sweeping the floor.
Ophelia starts to load her pockets with whizbangs and demon dung crackers while Cassie hums to herself as she reorganizes the massive candy display.
"You hear what James did this summer? I overheard mum talking with aunt Gin. Apparently he snuck five girls into the house all at the same time." Ophelia says once she's stuffed her pockets to the brim.
I roll my eyes and keep sweeping. I hate James with my entire body. Yeah we're family or whatever so we have to love one another but if we didn't share grandparents I would have clocked him in the face a long time ago. He's a cocky bastard, always using the fact that his dad is the Harry Potter to get his way with everything and everyone. Both of Rose's parents have chocolate frog cards and you don't hear her bringing it up every chance she gets do you? It wouldn't be so bad if we were in different years at Hogwarts or something but no. He's a month older than me which means we've been sharing a room since we were eleven. Two more years to go. Kill me now.
"Don't get any ideas, Freddie. Mum'll have your neck if she found out you snuck a girl into the house." Cass says to me casually.
"Please like anyone would want to sneak around with Fred of all people," Leah says.
"Gee thanks you two. Really know how to boost someone's confidence." I grumble which makes the two of them laugh.
"Me on the other hand? As soon as I'm old enough to have a girlfriend you can bet a thousand galleons that I'll have her sneaking over all the time." Ophelia says with a smirk on her face. She came out as a lesbian when she was like nine years old or something like that. No one really batted an eye, mum and dad taught us how to respect anyone and everyone. Mum's the one that made sure we think like that. Probably because of her aunt and uncle who raised her. Narcissa and Lucius... we've never met them. Mums got an office that she sometimes locks herself in. It's got the Black family tapestry all over the walls. She never lets anyone in besides dad. We're supposed to run and find him when she goes in there, just in case she needs someone to talk to.
"What about you Cass? You've got big plans to sneak boys into your room?" I like poking fun at Cass whenever I can. Nothing serious or anything but it's what big brothers are supposed to do right?
She instantly goes red and turns back around to face the shelves, "Haven't a clue what you're on about." She says quietly.
I've got a sneaking suspicion that she fancies Darcy. Darcy's mum is our aunt Em. Technically she's not our aunt at all but she's been best friends with my parents for as long as any of them can remember. Aunt Em was in love with Uncle Fred before he died and never really loved anyone since. Not even Darcy's dad, her ex-husband, but you didn't hear it from me.
We can hear the flat door open and close from upstairs followed by my mum's laugh. She's got one of those laughs that makes everyone around her smile. I like to think I have the same laugh.
Dad comes downstairs and goes over to the cash registers to count and make sure that everything lines up. Mum starts walking around with the inventory list.
Ophelia goes over to dad with all of the owl order forms that she's collected from the slot in the wall, "Seems like everyone's getting their Hogwarts orders in early this year." She says to him. Ophelia is the only one that really likes working in the shop. Don't get it twisted, I love the shop but I'd rather be talking with customers and demonstrating the products than doing the sales and things that she likes doing.
Once mum finishes with inventory and dad gives us the all-clear we head back into the flat. The best thing that dad did for the shop was to get muggle electricity installed everywhere. Technically it was mum's idea but dad and pops were the ones that actually did it.
"I need you all in bed! We're waking up at eight tomorrow morning to get to Kings Cross in time!" Dad calls throughout the flat. Theo and Annie are already asleep by the looks of things. Theo goes to Hogwarts next year, he's terrified, unlike Annie who tries to sneak onto the train every year.
I open my bedroom door and close it behind me immediately. I'll never let them know but the whole 'who would want to sneak around with Freddie' comments that Leah and Cass make all the time get to me a little bit more every time they say them. Not that I'm self-conscious or anything... I'm not I swear. But all the girls at Hogwarts tend to notice Louis and James before they notice me. Which is fine, I don't care. I change into some pyjama bottoms and throw myself onto my bed. I don't care. Girls are annoying and stupid anyway.