Fred hurried back into his bed making sure to pull the covers up to cover his jeans. With the majority of students having left Hogwarts for the holidays, the opportunity to pull pranks had drastically diminished. It had been a while since he'd pranked his own partner in crime, but the boredom had been growing drastically. Fred stilled as he heard sounds from his twin's bed.
"Blimey, that's freezing!"
Fred held back a laugh at George's exclamation. The old castle was always cold in the winter. Really, he should be used to it by now. Fred rolled over and tried to control his breathing to make it appear as if he were still deeply asleep. Soon after, he heard the sound of George pulling back his bed curtains.
"Fred? Are you awake?" he heard George whisper. Fred did his best to maintain the illusion of sleep as his twin began to poke him in the back. "Come on, Fred, wake up." Just as he planned, George gave up with a sigh and Fred listened as George grabbed clothes from the trunk and exited through the door.
After waiting a few moments to insure that George had not forgotten anything, Fred hopped out of bed and quickly unbuttoned his pajama shirt, revealing his jumper underneath, before throwing it on top of his own trunk and pulling on his shoes. It wouldn't do well for him to be in the dormitory when George got back from his shower.
Fred quickly left the room and headed towards the stairs to the common room, pausing by the bathroom door. He could hear the water running inside and had stop himself from laughing yet again before continuing on. The common room was empty and Fred happily took a seat by the fire, content to wait and see the results of his newest best idea.
Fred ended up waiting longer than he'd anticipated. Had George found a way reverse the effects? Was he already plotting his revenge? That wouldn't do. Fred was about to stand and find a way to check on his twin when he heard a door slam . Not long after, George appeared, stomping down the staircase with his towel tied around his hips. Upon seeing him, Fred could no longer contain his laughter. Not just the hair on his head, but every hair on his body, had been dyed a bright violet. Even the anger burning in George's eyes could do nothing to quell Fred's glee.
"What did you do?" George demanded, arms crossed against his naked torso. Fred just continued to laugh, leaning back slightly in his seat. "I'm serious, Fred! I've tried everything to change it back. This isn't funny."
Fred laughed again before managing an answer."That's a lie," Fred replied as he managed to gain his composure and sat upright in his seat. "You know if it was anyone else, you would be laughing too."
"Tell me how to fix it." George demanded again, ignoring the truth in Fred's words.
"Alright, I'll fix it for you." Fred said as he stood from his seat. "But you'll have to catch me first!" Before his twin could react, Fred ran for the portrait hole and out into the hall. At the end, he peaked over his shoulder to confirm that George wasn't following him. Satisfied that everything was going as planned he quickly made his way to the staircase. He couldn't make it too easy for George to find him.
Fred couldn't say how long he'd been walking through the same corridor on the second floor. It felt like it had been hours, but time always seemed to drag on when he was bored. Fred had started this to bring some entertainment to Christmas; the castle had been quiet and boring, but it wasn't fun if George wasn't there with him. Fred was about to head back for the common room when he heard a mysterious hissing sound.
Fred glanced at the hall behind him where three small fireworks had suddenly appeared, their fuses growing smaller by the second. He glanced around the hall for any sight of his twin, but found none. Fred glanced at the golden tapestry hung at the end of the hall, covering a secret passageway to the fourth floor. He knew George had to be behind it. No one else knew about these fireworks.
"It won't work, Georgie," Fred called towards the tapestry as he raised his wand. "These were my idea after all." Fred aimed his wand at the fireworks and cast the charm he and his brother had created specifically for their new product. Fred could have sworn he heard a laugh from the tapestry as he cast the spell.
He soon understood why. Instead of vanishing like they should, the fireworks were multiplying, quickly filling the floor in the hallway. Not wanting to take the risk of casting spells at the altered product, Fred ran for the tapestry. He reached it with the fireworks right behind him, still multiplying even though they'd grown in number several times over. Fred reached for the tapestry, but found it would not budge. He cursed as he began to bang on the golden fabric.
"George! George, I know you're there. I'm sorry. I'll fix your hair, just let me in." He waited with his ear on the tapestry but heard no response from his twin. "You wouldn't want your favorite brother to get incinerated by fireworks, would you?" he asked as he began to bang on the tapestry again.
Soon, the fireworks had filled the hallway and were beginning to rise around his ankles, some beginning to go off and releasing colorful smoke and shooting off their colorful sparks. He looked from the tapestry to the long hall behind him, accepting his fate.
"Fine!" Fred shouted at the tapestry as he turned to leave. "But now this is only just the beginning!" After one last glare at the golden fabric, Fred began to run down the hall as the fireworks continued to rise.
By the time he made it out of the corridor, the fireworks had reached almost to his knees. Fred glanced down and noticed soot marks and singes all over his clothes. He'd make sure to get George back for this. Forget purple hair that would only last for the day if Fred was lucky, he'd make it permanent, or he'd enlarge George's facial features, or make it so that unless George was saying exactly what Fred wanted him to, he'd sound like a canary.
Those, and several other ideas on how to get even with his twin, vanished from Fred's mind as a cold voice spoke in the hall.
"What a surprise, to only find one Mr. Weasley. I had come to the conclusion after these years that the two relied on a symbiotic relationship. Tell me, where is your other half?" Snape glanced down the hall before returning his cold stare back to Fred.
"Yeah Weasel."
Fred glanced behind the intimidating form of the Potions Master. He hadn't noticed the ferret before now. Just great . While Snape was known to favor his Slytherin students, it was possible to be let off with a warning. You just couldn't get in trouble in class and your name couldn't be Harry Potter. The presence of Malfoy ruined any chance of Fred not getting in trouble when the fireworks spread into the hall.
"Quiet, you." Snape said, turning his cold glare to Draco. "You've no room to gloat seeing as you're in trouble yourself." Draco's smile disappeared as he turned his now sullen gaze to the floor. Snape returned his attention to Fred, crossing his arms over his chest. "Now, what have you done to cause explosions? Surely you should be relaxing on Christmas of all days."
Fred glanced around them, wondering why the fireworks hadn't spilled out into the hall. He could still hear the light hissing and the loud bangs as they went off. When he turned to look behind him, he noticed that they had risen quite high, but seemed to be stopped by some sort of barrier, keeping them from filling the castle. Suddenly, Fred had a marvelous idea on how to get even with George.
"I'm sorry, Professor." Fred began, using his most sincere voice. He knew Snape wouldn't like it. "I wanted to test a new product to surprise Fred as a Christmas present, but they're not responding the way they should. I couldn't vanish them. Containing them was the best I could do." Fred guided Snape around the corner to show him the corridor of contained fireworks. Snape did not look pleased.
Fred watched as Snape examined the corridor before turning his glance back to Draco in the hall. Snape seemed to be considering something, and Fred hoped it would lead to a nasty punishment. Fred could see the irritation growing in the man's eyes before he glanced at the corridor once more before turning to face Fred.
"Mr. Weasley, Professor McGonagall will be hearing about this. Perhaps she and Flitwick can find a way to clean up after your mess. I have something else to attend to at the moment." Snape turned his attention to Draco and motioned for the younger boy to follow him back down the hall.
Fred watched, disappointed as Snape headed away from him. That wasn't how that was supposed to happen. Especially in front of a Slytherin. Did the bat actually have a bit of Christmas spirit in him? Suddenly, Snape stopped and turned to face Fred again.
"And George?" he called from down the hall, the familiar evil smirk in place. "Don't think you'll be let off easily because McGonagall goes soft during the holidays. You will be serving detention with me every night for a week once classes resume. Do you understand?"
Malfoy snickered at that and was about to make a comment when Fred watched Snape knock him on the head. The blond prat fell silent again and glared between the two of them.
Fred had to stop himself from smiling, it would ruin everything. "Yes Sir." With that, the two Slytherins continued towards the staircase while Fred set out to look for his brother. It wouldn't do for George to forget about his detentions, Snape could be a right bastard.
Fred quickly found himself bored again as he searched the castle for his twin. The empty halls echoed his footsteps and the cold began to seep through his jumper. After checking Gryffindor tower to find no sign of George, he made his way down to the Great Hall. It was well past breakfast time now, but perhaps there would still be something out. If not, he could head down to the kitchens. The elves like him well enough, especially Dobby since he was ,after all, 'friend of Harry Potter'.
Fred ended up not needing to enter the hall. Sitting on the staircase in the entrance hall was his brother, holding a plate of Christmas cupcakes.
"Hey." George said, gesturing for Fred to sit beside him. Fred did so and George offered him the plate of cupcakes. "I couldn't find you."
"Yeah right." Fred said as he took a cupcake from the plate. "You had no problem finding me in the corridor." He glanced at George out of the corner of his eye. "And Snape had no trouble finding me when I got out of there. He thinks he found you though."
Fred watched George's reaction and saw a flash of anger as he took his first bite of cupcake. Well, it served him right tampering with the fireworks like that. The anger was quickly replaced with a smile.
"Alright then. I got these cupcakes for us as a truce. I guess we really are even now, right?" George asked as he picked up the other cupcake.
"I guess we can be. I still can't believe you locked me in a hall of fireworks though." Fred took another bite of his cupcake. "These are really good. Thanks." Fred looked over to find George smiling from ear to ear.
"No problem." George replied. Fred wondered about his twin's behavior as he finished his cupcake. It was a few moments later when he began to feel it.
It felt as if he were standing in the summer sun. Fred glanced at George and realized he hadn't eaten a bite of his cupcake and was still smiling. Fred reached towards his hair and quickly yanked his hand away, noticing the blister already forming on his finger.
"What did you do?" He yelled as he stood from his position on the stairs. George had already retreated a few feet away.
"Well, I thought since you gave me such a nice hairstyle, I should return the favor. Now your flaming red hair is actually, well, flaming. You should feel some pressure in your ears soon. Don't worry, it's just smoke." Fred growled as George continued to smile.
Fred lunged for his twin, but George was already running for the doors and out onto the grounds. Fred quickly followed after him and chased him down towards the lake where George had stopped. Before Fred could reach his twin, he ended up with a face full of snow.
"Perhaps you should cool down!" he heard George shout.
That was it. If George thought he could win at a snowball fight, he was dead wrong. Fred quickly retreated behind a small banking of snow and quickly formed a few snowballs before charming them to all fly at the same time. He looked over the embankment and watched two of them hit George in the chest. He watched as George quickly hid behind another embankment of snow, closer to the edge of the lake.
"You can't win Georgie!" Fred taunted as he took the opportunity to make a small pile of snowballs. He picked one up and stood to throw it when he realized a row of snowballs heading for him. He quickly dropped behind the embankment, feeling one snowball hit him in the shoulder on his way down. He wasn't expecting the others to follow suit as he felt himself be pelted by the six additional snowballs he thought he'd dodged.
"I think I can, Fred!" George called from behind his embankment.
A full out war was on. Fred began to make more snowballs before realizing he was wasting time. He quickly cast a charm on the snow around him to continue making snowballs while he began to charm the pile he had. He grabbed one and stood to throw it at George who was also standing. He dodged George's snowball and watched as his melted on contact with George's body and the small shiver that went through his twin.
As he reached for his next snowball he saw the one George had thrown laying on the ground. He picked it up instead and threw it at his twin who was still distracted trying to dry his wet clothes. The snowball hit him in his shoulder and Fred watched as it created a bright flash as it exploded. Fred used this as his chance to send another small volley of snowballs at George, but was disappointed when they all missed. Apparently, George had anticipated Fred's move and had taken refuge behind his snowbank.
"What are you two doing?" Fred heard a familiar voice ask.
"Brother of mine!" George yelled from his spot by the lake. "We're waging a war obviously. Come and join me and together the three of us can defeat the evil Fred."
Fred glanced at Ron and Harry who were looking between the twins. "Or you could join me." he added. "We all know I'm going to win anyway."
He watched as Ron and Harry looked at each other and smiled.
"Or, we could team up and defeat both of you." Ron declared and Fred watched as Harry cast a spell to make a shield of snow where they stood. It wasn't long before the twins were bombarded by snow balls.
The war waged on for a while after that. Each person becoming more and more creative as time went on. Harry and Ron had started coloring their snowballs and the color stuck to you once you were hit. They seemed to be using it as a point system between the two of them. They'd also made snowballs that paused if you dodged and hung in midair until you appeared again. George had devised a snowball that was invisible that had knocked Fred right in the chin. As for Fred, he'd invented a snowball that grew in size as it flew through the air.
Rather than dodge snowballs, the teams had started to cast spells to stop them in the middle of the field as they grew more and more dangerous. As time wore on, Fred realized that he and George were still covered in an unbelievable amount of dye from Harry and Ron.
"I think we can call a truce now, George." Fred called across to his twin.
"I was thinking the same thing." George replied. Suddenly, the two snowbanks elongated until they met in the middle, resulting in one long, curved shelter. George appeared at Fred's side a moment later. "Are you ready to win this thing?"
"You bet I am." Fred replied.
Fred decided to adopt Harry and Ron's system of point keeping and proceeded to color his snowballs orange and George's a bright purple. George glared at him for a moment before the two rose up together, releasing a torrent of snowballs into the air while screaming "GRED AND FORGE!"
The war was on again, even fiercer than before now that Fred and George were working together. Their greatest idea had been to charm the snowballs to carry jinxes and hexes. After Harry was hit with a Jelly Leg Jinx, Ron was forced to go on the defensive. Fred took a mental note of the snowballs, they'd make a great product.
A while later, with the twins still on the offensive, the fight was interrupted yet again.
"What do you think you're doing?" All the boys turned to look at Hermione, who was joined by Luna.
"We're having a snowball fight." Fred and George answered simultaneously.
Hermione shook her head. "This isn't a snowball fight." she corrected. "This is barbaric."
"Oh no!" Luna cried behind her, quickly heading to a tree slightly behind Ron and Harry. "This is where the Perifaeries live! You're ruining their home!"
The other five students turned to stare at the blond girl, who was examining the iced-over tree bark. They were used to her being odd, but it still shocked them when it came on unexpectedly.
"The what?" Ron asked, being the first to come out of the stupor.
"The Perifaeries." Luna explained, calmly. "They're tiny faeries that live under the bark of trees. You have to stop."
"Luna, I'm sure it's so cold that the Perifaeries are gone. The tree is iced over after all." Harry tried to calm the younger girl. Luna just shook her head.
"You don't understand, Harry. They're not very smart to begin with, but they're also faeries. They don't mind the cold."
"Luna, I'm sure the iced-over bark will protect them from the snowballs." Fred called across the field. Luna just shook her head.
"If you won't stop, then I'll have no choice but to protect them." And with that, Luna sat in front of the tree.
"Do you want to join us Hermione?" Fred asked. "I know you would love to hit Ron in the face. This is your chance." Fred and George both winked at the girl.
"'Mione wouldn't fight against us! She'd help us beat you." Ron shouted from his position.
"Come on, Hermione. Have some fun with us. It's Christmas." Harry added.
Hermione looked between the two groups as she chewed on her bottom lip. "Fine." she said as she went to join Ron and Harry behind their snow bank.
"Hermione." Both Fred and George moaned.
"Welcome 'Mione." Ron greeted her before charming some of their snowballs a different color for her.
"Don't blame her. We do everything together just like the two of you." Harry called across the field.
"Everything, huh?" George called out.
"That's kinky." Fred added and watched as Hermione blushed deeply.
In the end, it only seemed to spur her on more and Fred would admit that she almost came up with as good of ideas as they did. Luna maintained her position by the tree, and would cast a barrier any time a snowball threatened to hit it. Fred took advantage of this. Because of the tree's position, snowballs that bounced off of it often hit one of the trio in the back. Hermione realized what they were doing though, and enlarged their embankment to stretch further the same way George had, placing them away from the tree.
Perhaps Hermione's shining moment was charming the snow into creatures that would cross between the bunkers and attack the twins. The most impressive was a long dragon that breathed snow upon them. George mentioned to Fred that they'd have to remember that one. Fred agreed; it would make a lot of money.
The fight was raging as strongly as ever when the twins were distracted by a large object in the sky. For a moment, Fred thought it was one of Hermione's creations, but glanced over to notice the Trio were also confused by its sudden appearance. It looked like a large white bird as it swooped over the middle of their battlefield. Fred didn't manage to get a good look at it before the bird exploded and snow balls rained down on the field, pelting them all. The five were silent for a moment before laughing and continuing with their snowball fight.
Fred glanced over at George and noticed that bits of red were starting to streak through his violet hair. He smiled at the site as George pushed him out of the way of a snowball. It seemed his plan had worked. Pranking his twin had led to one of the most entertaining Christmases Fred could remember.