Submitted for Round 10 of The International Wizarding School Championship.
School: Durmstrang
Year: 1
Theme: Incorporate the positional characteristics of Quidditch Beaters/Beating-i.e., aggressive, destructive, and general overall mayhem makers-into your characters. Your task is to write about a duo that uses brute force to get what they want!
My duo: Fred and Geroge Weasley.
Main prompt: [Spell] Impedimenta
Optional prompts: [Setting] Egyptian Tombs or Pyramids, and [Object] Philosopher's Stone.
Word count: 2958
Author's Note: A "What-if" of sorts where the twins "borrow" the invisibility cloak for a while. . .
A big shout out to Tee for helping me find my phone and transcribing this mess of a story. You're an okay friend, some of the time.
Oh, some technical notes: For purposes of this story I have the Weasley twins discovering the Marauder's Map just short of the Winter Solsitice—around the 19th of December.
I used the ancient coinage of the Egyptian Piastre for the Egyptian Wizarding Community since it is quite old and was replaced in the nineteenth century with the Egyptian Pound. I am using the conversation ratio of one Galleon to seven Piastres.
Merrily We Go Along
Hogwarts Gryffindor Boys Dorm, Christmas Morning, 1991.
"I think mum is trying to be clever again," Fred commented as he pulled out his new Cobalt blue Christmas sweater complete with a new glittering gold monogram capital F snitched onto its front out of the plain brown paper wrapped parcel.
"Hmm, you might be right," George replied as he too retrieved the same sweater, save for a capital G instead of an F, from the same type of lumpy wrapped parcel.
"We have to come up with something, or she'll make us wear these all the time we're home from school."
"We could simply switch them every other day or midway through the day." George offered as he opened his last gift. A surprise one from Hermione Granger. It was a box of sour-coated gummy worms. Although it appeared to be a Muggle sweet, thus the molded gummies were not animated like the chocolate frogs. Despite that George liked the gift, taking out one to try right then.
"Perhaps, but I'm sure there is another simpler way… I know, let's call it each other by our merged names! That'll keep her guessing." Fred exclaimed as he unwrapped a box of chocolate coated gummy bears. Heh, that Hermione Granger did have a few surprises hidden in her cloak after all. He had assumed it would be a quill set or some book—he would have to keep a closer eye on her then.
George grinned. "Brillant idea there, Forge."
"Thanks, Gred."
The twins shared a quick chuckle as they pulled on their Christmas sweaters.
"Now off to check on little Ronald and Harry," both merrily declared before jointly dashing down to their youngest brother's dorm room. They both stopped however when they heard Ron's muffled disgruntled comment through the door:
"Every year she makes us a jumper and mine's always maroon."
George smirked as made to open the door when Fred stopped him and motioned that they should listen in a while longer. Shrugging George removed his hand from the door and listened to the hushed tones of the conversation before them.
"I've heard of those. If that's what I think it is—they're really rare, and really valuable."
Fred and George looked at each other; both boys' curiosity was piqued by Ron's awed whisper.
"'What is it?" Harry voiced the question of the hour.
"It's an Invisibility Cloak. I'm sure it is—try it on." A beat later Ron exclaimed, "It is! Look down!"
Both twin's eyes widened in astonishment. Harry Potter had gotten an Invisibility Cloak for Christmas!
Fred and George shared a pointed look. If they had such a cloak, with their newly unlocked map of Hogwarts, then they would indeed become the best pranksters in Hogwarts' lengthy history.
They had to borrow it. Somehow.
A year or two shouldn't hurt Harry—he wasn't interested in pranks or exploring the depths of the castle like they were—maybe even four years now that they were considering it.
Nodding their agreement—the Invisibility Cloak would be theirs, and soon—the twins flung open the door and bounded inside.
Fred smirked when he noticed Harry stuffing the Cloak hurridly under the wadded up blankets of his bed. This would be easier than he had first thought it would be.
"Merry Christmas!" Exclaimed Fred and George in perfect unison.
Harry and Ron quickly returned the greeting; however, theirs were forced with forced smiles in a failed effort to appear relaxed and calm.
"Hey, look—Harry's got a Weasley jumper, too!" Fred began as he played the distraction while his brother discretely approached the Cloak's hiding spot. Holding up the sweater, he grinned as he noticed that there weren't any missed snitches in Harry's like there usually were. Nor were his sleeves uneven or the hem irregular. Fred had never seen one of his mum's sweaters look so neat and polished before. "Harry's is better than ours, though. She obviously makes more of an effort if you're not family."
"Well, it's the thought, right?" Harry nervously remarked, somewhat uncertain what to say as he accepted his new sweater back.
"Why aren't you wearing yours, Ron? Come on, get it on, they're lovely and warm."
Fred grinned when he noticed his brother's hidden thumbs up as George encouraged Ron to wear the ever-so-slightly lopsided sweater.
The Cloak was theirs.
Later that night.
Fred and George were hunched over the multi-folded enchanted map they had not only "rescued" but unlocked its secrets by sheer luck—Fred had been merely spotting off nonsensical phrases when he had miraculously stumbled upon the magic words: We solemnly swear that we are up to no good. From there, it was only a matter of time, about three days to be precise, for them to crack the terminating charm. Now the yellowed parchment embedded with dozens upon dozens of, no doubt, sophisticated charms felt like theirs. Along with their Cloak, they could genuinely master Hogwarts.
They were studying the moving footsteps and waving name banners that were dotted throughout the map — looking for patterns and anything else that might be worthy of investigating under cover of their Invisibility Cloak.
"Looks like the Heads and even Hagrid are enjoying some Christmas spirits," George observed as he motioned to Flitwick's private chambers where Flitwick, McGonnigal, Sprout, Hagrid, and even sour-face Snape were slowly hovering near a fireplace.
"Oh, lookie here," George pointed to the corridor adjunct to the base of Ravenclaw Tower where their precious older brother, Percy was patrolling tonight. "Perfect prefect Percy is escorting two Ravenclaws back to their tower."
"Penelope Clearwater and Alice Winters," Fred muttered the names aloud before shrugging. They were both Ravenclaw upperclassmen who most likely had been studying in the library until it closed seven minutes previously. In other words, nothing to see there.
"That Pettigrew banner is back again," George announced with a bored sigh as he pointed to their brother Ron's dorm room. "You would think with a map this good that a glitch like that wouldn't be happening."
"Still an impressive feat of magic this map."
But it was a glitch—they had closely watched Ron for days, and there hadn't seen anyone that fit that banner name present. They had even begun to joke among themselves that Scabbers was the rat's secret identity since he was the only one that seems to affect the banner as it moved about the common room one night.
"Now that's interesting." Fred pointed to the newly restricted third-floor corridor in the right-wing of the castle which had been empty of any footsteps for the past week—when they had first revealed the map.
"Yeah, ole Dumbledore isn't pacing his office like usual."
"I guess 'everyone' doesn't include him, either." Fred remarked, both remembering the stern warning from their Headmaster at the start of term: 'I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death.'
"Then this is Dumbledore, if anyone can ward off a painful death, it would be him."
Fred hummed. George had a point.
"Let's go for a little evening stroll, Gred," Fred smirked as he held up the glittering Cloak.
"Let's Forge."
Huddling close together both were able to hide under the magical cloak with ease as they walked along the corridors following Dumbledore's steps out from the third-floor hall to an old, disused classroom near the library, and that was where he stopped.
"Curiouser and—"
"Curiouser."
Soon they had reached the library corridor, and even though they were shrouded within the safety of the Cloak, they carefully tip-toed down the hallway towards the room where Dumbledore stood.
Both blinked as they saw through the open the door to see a grand mirror standing paramount within the otherwise empty room.
Where was Dumbledore?
Fred looked at George and mouthed, "disillusioned."
Or the map was having another moment of error.
The silence continued to fill the darkened corridor for several minutes until a small sigh was heard and Dumbledore sparkled into vision before turning from the mirror and slowly walking past the twins and out of the corridor.
Fred and George waited until their Headmaster was once more back in the confines of his office before they removed their cloak and sprinted into the mirror room.
"Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi?" both twins muttered, puzzled as they examined the monster of the mirror before them.
"It can't be just a mirror, not with Dumbledore keeping it here just by itself," Fred remarked as they circled the mirror.
"Yeah… maybe we should try that new jinx Percy's been going on about—"
"-Impedimenta," both said in tandem as they touched the curved back of the mirror.
The mirror jumped forward a few inches away from the twins as its sudden momentum caused it to sway and rock on its clawed feet.
"Not good," Both uttered as they quickly stepped back just as the mirror crashed down and broke into hundreds of shards.
"Repairo," George cast, causing the mirrored shards to shake and rattle before lifting and refusing themselves back together. Soon the floor was clear of glass.
The mirror still lay where it had fallen, its mirrored face reflecting the stone floor below it, but now there was also a red stone laying a few inches near it.
"That wasn't there before," Fred remarked, excitedly as he retrieved the odd stone. It felt warm and rather heavy for such a small stone.
"What do you think it is, Forge?" George asked as he looked down into his twin's hand.
"Something rare. Maybe we should—" Fred stopped himself when he heard the door of the corridor bang open.
Quickly they put their cloak on and moved to the wall near the door just seconds before an out of breath Filch came running into the room. Mrs. Norris close at his heels.
"Alright, show yourselves."
Fred and George quickly dashed out the corridor and back to their dorm room. The red stone bouncing within Fred's pocket as they went.
It wasn't until the End-of-Term Feast that the twins discovered that the odd stone was the famed alchemy artifact, the Philosopher's Stone.
They silently agreed to keep it with their other two prized possessions: the map and the Cloak.
They could need it one day.
The Peabody Arms Hotel, Egypt, Late June 1993.
"We all will be touring the Great Pyramids today, as a family," Molly Weasley reminded her family as they eat breakfast in the bustling dining hall of the grand Wizarding hotel—another happy gift from that wireless quiz prize.
"But mother, I was hoping to attend a special lecture at the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities this afternoon. It's on the magical practices and magic classes during the reign of the Shepherd Kings."
Molly's face softened as she patted her middle child's hand tenderly. "Sorry Percy, but your father and I already decided that today would be a day for the whole family to spend together. Vacations do not often happen in this family, and we must make the best of it."
Fred and George frowned but wisely stayed mute, the twins momentarily disappointed that they wouldn't be exploring the ancient tombs in the Vally of the Kings that day. (They had been looking forward to seeing their eldest brother, Bill, at work breaking ancient curses.)
"Oh, mum can't we do the whole family bonding thing tomorrow?" both Ron and Ginny wined as they both had wished to see the open practice match of the Egyptian National Quidditch team scheduled for later that morning. Although, one warning look from their mother stopped any other questions or complaints from them.
Bill and Charlie shared a look between themselves before shrugging. Bill had seen and done several tourist events during his days off from curse breaking while Charlie was pretty content to do whatever since the purposed dragon races had been canceled due to a high probability of sandstorm activity.
"Then we're off to the pyramids," Arthur happily exclaimed as he clapped his hands.
An hour later, the whole Weasley clan of Ottery St Catchpole found themselves standing outside the Giza Necropolis. Their camels that they had rented at the tour stand across from the Peabody Arms, already tied and enjoying a bite of feed.
"Pictures, Sir. Pictures of your family standing in front of the Great Pyramids, only three Piastre."
"Three Piastre? Yes, that would be splendid." Arthur agreed as he fished out the three hexadecagonal shaped coins and gave it to the turban-wearing man with a wizarding camera hanging around his tanned neck.
"Everyone, get closer together," the cameraman ordered as he framed the shot to include the three main pyramids of the necropolis complex in the background behind the nine redheaded Englanders. A bright flash and seven seconds later a magic embedded polaroid was handed over to a beaming Arthur.
"Now where should we start?" Arthur asked his family after giving his wife the photograph to put away in her oversized bag.
"I would like to see the Pyramid of Khafre," Percy was the first to speak as he adjusted his fez in a vain attempt to block the powerful glare slamming into his glasses. He could now see the merits of one of those American Baseball caps with the elongated hat brims. "but Khufu's Horizon pyramid is a must-see, too."
Fred and George shared a look and silently mocked their brother's crisp, prissy demeanor.
"Khufu's Horizon? Had to show off that brain of yours, huh, Percival?" Charlie laughed and nudged Percy's fez forward, causing the tassel to fall and tangle around Percy's eyeglasses which resulted in a sharp glare directed at Charlie.
"Well, he is dating that Ravenclaw witch of his," Fred began putting an arm around Percy while George followed suit on the other side: "must keep up appearances or she might wise up and find someone better."
Percy's frown deepened as he pushed off the twins and untangled his fez from his glasses. He wished he had locked that classroom door before kissing Penelope if he had then he wouldn't be suffering this teasing about his dating life.
"Woah, you're dating a Ravenclaw?" Bill asked, fiening shock. "Nice going, little brother."
Percy right eye twitched as Bill ruffled his hair.
"Khufu's Horizon? Which one is that, again?" Ginny asked in an attempt to change the subject off of Percy. It worked.
"The Great Pyramid, dear," Molly answered, pointing to the tallest and most prominent of the triad of pyramids.
Fred and George smirked as they took the opportunity to sneak off towards the Great Sphinx. The mysterious ancient structure stood in its frozen pose as the twins finally reached the roped off section to the recently discovered passageway which connected to three inner chambers deep down below the enigma of a monument. (And, according to Bill might lead to more hidden rooms once all the curses and traps had been discovered and destroyed.)
With a glance to verify that their mum hadn't found them yet, they lifted the rope and entered the dark passage that almost immediately descended downward in a long, stone staircase. The adjacent walls that encircled them were made of limestone—most likely of the same vine as the ones that used to cap the pyramids above them.
George turned on his electric torch, and the suffocating darkness receded a few yards as the yellow beam of light pierced the ancient corridor.
"Let's check out that first chamber." Fred decided using the light from his brother's torch to illuminate his annotated guidebook he had snatched from his brother Bill the previous day. "Bill has cleared that one some time ago, so it should be the safest to explore."
Thirty minutes and several photos later (thanks to George's camera) they had found that the first chamber didn't hold too many bobbles and no curiosities.
It was while they were searching the second chamber that they heard the noise. A prolonged scrapping noise that caused George to spin around from his plan photo of the collection of various jeweled statures to cast light on the open doorway.
Fred had dropped the bracelet he had been examining, breaking the old string and scattering the jackal shaped jade beads across the chamber's floor.
Silence engulfed them as they waited with bated breath for another sound or for some movement to occur.
They did not have to wait long, for only a minute after the odd noise another came: a low moaning sound.
The twins dashed from the chamber and up the passageway, only stopping at the base of the stairs to fire back an impedimenta. One that was just meant as a precaution, but when they heard something substantial hit the stone wall yards away, they knew that they had chosen wisely in using it. Not wasting any more time they flew up and out of the Sphinx, and right into the furry of their mother.
Well, better a scolding from your mum than being maimed by some undead, stranger mummy. They both thought as Molly shooed them back to the fold.
The End