Written for Hogwarts Online Prompt of the day
Prompt for Wednesday, August 31st:
"I thought you said you could fix it!"
"I said I could take it apart, I didn't say I could fix it! There's a difference.''
"Fred, get out of the shed or Dad'll kill you!" George whispered as he followed his brother to the shed behind the Burrow.
Their father was at work, and their mother was in Diagon Alley for the morning with their younger sister Ginny, and younger brother Ron. Fred and George were the only people left in the house for Percy was at work with his father for the take your child to work day the Ministry held every year.
They refused to go shopping with their mum. They were eleven-years-old and wanted to explore the Burrow on their own with out anyone tagging along behind them. George took a deep breath, knowing they'd be in trouble if their dad found out they went into his personal shed, and walked in.
Fred was sitting on the chair in front of a table full of Muggle items. He was staring at a weird looking box with a knob or two attached to it.
"George, what do you reckon it is?" Fred asked his brother.
"I don't know, don't touch it," George said as he leaned against the threshold of the shed.
"It's curious, isn't it." Fred moved closer to the box.
"Dad will be mad if he knew we came in here. He's ordered us not to come in here at all."
"I know, but this object has my attention."
"Why, Fred?" George asked as he watched his brother pick up the strange square box.
"Because, George, I heard dad out here last night again, and I snuck out of the house when you were asleep. He was fiddling with this box when I saw him, I accidentally stepped on a stick, and dad turned around. I hid just in time before he saw me."
"Come to think of it, it does look like a Radio. Fred, we have those!" George snickered.
"I know we have radios, but this one's a Muggle radio. See the plug? Dad described it to me once." Fred couldn't resist the temptation any longer, he picked up the box, tapped it a little and sighed. The box didn't work the way he wanted it to.
"Did you see dad getting it to work? How do you know it works? Fred put that down, we really should go back inside now. It looks like rain."
"I didn't see dad get it to work because I had to hide quickly. I didn't dare go look again, and I won't put this down till I figure it out," Fred said as he held the plug in his hands, studying it.
"Fred, you're not listening to me. I'm serious." George walked over to his brother and tried taking the radio from him. Fred refused to give it to his twin and held tight to the radio. George took the plug out of Fred's hand, and held tight onto it.
"Give that back, I want to try to fix it. I'm going to take it apart to see how it looks like on the inside," Fred said pulling on the body of the radio.
"How do you know it's broken? Did you ever think that dad could have used magic to get it to work?" George pulled on the box when Fred was thinking about the question his brother had asked, and the radio flew out of their hands and onto the ground with a loud smash.
The twins stared at the broken radio in shock.
"Look at what you did!" Fred shoved George into the wall.
"I didn't do that, you wouldn't give it to me so I could put it away. It didn't need to be fixed." George shoved Fred back.
"It didn't need fixing then, I just needed to figure out how to make it work." Fred said as thunder boomed loudly making them both jump back. Fred stared at the broken Muggle radio.
"Well, now it needs to be fixed," George said sarcastically.
"Shove off," Fred said sitting down on the floor next to the box.
"Merlin's beard, Dad's going to be really angry with us. Fix it George!" Fred said staring up at his twin. He waved his hand over the radio to show George what he meant.
"I thought you said you could fix it." George stated.
"I said I could take it apart, I didn't say I could fix it! There's a difference."
"Great, what are we going to tell dad? Mum will be home soon with Ginny and Ron," George replied.
"If only I had dad's wand," Fred stated.
"What do you mean? We're eleven, we aren't allowed to use magic on our own. We haven't been to Hogwarts yet."
"Fred? George? Where are you?" They heard their mum call from the house.
"Merlin's beard! Mum's back," The twins said in unison. Horror etched their faces as they stared at the box. All of a sudden, it fixed itself.
"How did you do that?" George asked his brother.
"I didn't! I don't know how it fixed itself, I swear," Fred admitted.
"Ahem. I thought we told you to stay out of here," their mum said from behind them. Her wand was raised and aimed at the box.
"So you do know this is where Dad keeps all of his Muggle items," George said as he felt his face turn red. Fred's face was red with embarrassment as he stood up to meet his mother.
"Of course I do. I stay here at all hours of the day, I know every inch of the Burrow. Who broke the radio?" their mum asked as both twins pointed to the other. They knew they were in trouble.
"Thank you, for breaking the blooy thing!" she said. Their jaws dropped as his mum lowered the wand.
"Excuse me?" George said as he stared in disbelieve.
"Your father broke it a few nights ago, and couldn't figure out how to put it back together. He tried his best, but when he did, it wasn't working right. Last night, he snuck out around one in the morning to try to fix it."
"I don't get it, why'd you fix it just then?" Fred said confused.
"Because, Fred, I wanted him to be happy. I didn't fix it all the way, but it makes him happy having something to work on with his hands. It's still broken, but to how he had it last night. He finds it relaxing to fix Muggle items. Tonight when he comes out, he won't know you two broke it. I won't tell him."
"Mum, this is so unlike you!" George said.
"I know, I need someone to de-gnome the garden again. You can do it tomorrow after breakfast." She smiled.
"I knew there was a catch." Fred eyed his brother.
"Come on, let's go into the house, Ginny and Ron are getting ready for lunch." Molly informed her two twin sons.
"That was a weird morning," George admitted as he stared at the Muggle radio.
"You're telling me!" Fred patted his brother on the back. He was relieved they weren't in any trouble.
"Let's go inside, I'm hungry," Fred said as the rain started to pour down from the skys above.
"You're always hungry, Fred!" They stared at the box resting on the table one more time before they went into the house. They knew they were lucky this time because the only punishment they got was to de-Gnome the garden. Fred and George knew it could have been a much worse punishment than what they got.
Please review! I love getting them.
An Extra Sspecial thank you is needed to my beta Slytherin Head for getting it back to me. I hope this is what you thought of when you wrote the prompt for our forum!
