~ Ron Weasley climbed the stairs yawning and listening to Fred and George being bawled out by his mother. Shortly after dinner, Fred and George, who were still determined to open a joke shop, decided to try out their newest invention on Ron. They excused themselves to go help their mom rustle up the dessert and when she had her back turned, they had slipped a rather scrumptious looking cookie on to the tarnished platter. Of course, by serving Ron first, he took the cookie and swallowed half of it in one go. With an exploding sound that shook the entire rickety house, Ron had been transformed into an African native with face paint smeared across his face and chest and a heavy diadem made up of feathers and buffalo hair capping his head. His feet began to move and within seconds he was prancing about the room in a tribal dance to beating drums sounding out of thin air. The twins were howling with laughter.
"FRED! GEORGE!" Came Molly's shrill voice. "What have you done to him this time! I swear, if you've been starting that Weasleys' Wheezing Wizards or whatever that rubbish is called..." she shook her finger at them furiously trying to think of something to threaten them with. Without warning, the pounding drums silenced and the spell was broken, leaving Ron naked in the center of the living room. Blushing a shade of claret, Ron pushed past George and Fred who were slumped against the wall, holding their aching stomachs, tears streaming down their face. His infuriated mother followed him all the way to the bathroom, where she was met with a slamming door.
"Ronald, darling! Are you all right?" She whined.
"Mum! I was an African tribe guy with face paint spread about my face and I'm stark naked! And I just finished my lovely ritual dance! Does it sound like I'm all right?" He roared embarrassedly.
"Well humph!" She huffed. Ron could hear her pacing outside the door and thankfully she skulked off minutes later in search of Fred and George.
"Flighty little gits," Ron muttered as he flopped onto his bed. A spring coil jabbed him in the back and he rolled over grumbling. ~
~Far away in a shadowy alley of Itasca, Illinois, fourteen year old Sebastian swiftly cuffed another smaller boy across the head, striking him to the ground. He continued to pummel the scrawny kid until his friends had to pull him off.
"You cheating asshole! Maybe next time you'll think twice about stealing my money to buy your drugs you pathetic little prick!" He spat at the cowering boy. Sebastian broke away from the grip of his friends and viciously kicked him. Suddenly, a stumpy little boy hurtled himself around the corner, his rapid breaths coming out in cloudy puffs.
"P-p-police! ..... c-coming..." he choked in between gulps for air. Sirens sounded in the distance and the gang scattered like mice. Sebastian tore through the mist that was welding itself to his eyelashes and down dark, spindly alleyways. Never once did he stop to see if he were being followed and he didn't dare halt until he rounded the corner of his block. With lungs throbbing like they were being ripped out of his chest, he hopped the shabby picket fence bordering his house. His house was a dumpy, manila hovel that had loose roofing causing it to leak and drip in heavy downpours and surrounding it was a dried, sickly yellow-brown grass. Sebastian lived with his aunt Trisha, a crotchety woman with bags under her eyes, who carried with her a moldy, smoky essence. Carefully, Sebastian lowered himself into his tiny excuse for a room. In fact, it was more like a large closet. His bed was narrow and bumpy and all his clothes, which consisted basically of two t-shirts and a pair of jeans, were stuffed underneath. That and a plastic bedside table that looked as if it ought to belong in a dollhouse were the only pieces of furniture in his room. Everything Sebastian knew and had was scanty and a disgrace to any decent human being. Knowing it were impossible to ever achieve anything better than he had now, Sebastian gave up on his school work and grades and instead turned to the only life he knew; the only life he was born to live: a life of crime. Sure, it wasn't the best way to live, but what else did he have going for him, he reckoned. He dropped catlike onto the creaky floorboards of his room and to his disappointment, the floor groaned under his weight. Hearing a door burst open signaling his aunt's approaching, Sebastian instinctively leaped under the worn layers of bed sheets. His bedroom door flew open to reveal a hefty woman in a thin flowery dress, snorting like a bull.
"Well?" She demanded.
Sebastian feigned a yawn and squinted at her, pretending he had been dozing. "Well what, Aunt Trisha?"
"You know very well what! You've been out again! Out.. out," she stammered, "out with those.. hoodlums! Why must you keep ruining your life like this!"
"Why aunt, I don't know what you're talking about. I was just sleeping in here and all of a sudden you burst in here." He said as innocently as he could manage.
"Oh really? Stand up."
Something the trite lady couldn't quite grasp flashed past Sebastian's eyes.
"Stand up?" His voice wavered.
"Stand up." She ordered.
With a churlish glance, he stood up defiantly in his tattered sweatshirt and jeans.
"Aight, so I was out. Don't get so worked up over it." He snapped returning to his usual colloquial speech.
"Yeah, yeah, you little thug." She retorted as she closed the door with a bang.
Rolling his eyes, Sebastian clambered back into his bed. His aunt's words still rang in his head. "Why must you keep ruining your life like this!" Ruining my life? Can't she see it was all ready ruined? He sighed, mulling it over, and fell asleep.
Sunlight poured in from the window and bounced about the walls, falling upon Sebastian's closed eyes. Blinking thickly, he massaged his ringing head and sat up, rubbing the crustiness out of the corner of his eyes. Unexpectedly, the door in front of him opened and a cheery, plump woman in an apron greeted him.
"Morning Ron. My, you're not up yet? Breakfast is ready." And she left leaving Sebastian entirely bewildered. What, who's that? Ron? What is happening to me? Is this some sort of dream? Well, you know what they do in movies.. Pinch. Dammit! He caressed the sore spot on his forearm gently. I don't get it, what am I supposed to do? Where am I!
"Ronnekins! Where are you? Breakfast!" the woman called, lightheartedly.
Sebastian wavered outside the door momentarily before trotting down the steps gingerly. A bustling table seating a fiery red-headed family lay before him and none of them turned to look at him when he entered, which was normal for him considering he lived with Aunt Trisha. The friendly woman hustled over handing him a plate with a warm smile.
"I made pigs in a blanket, your favorite. They're over by Ginny." She pointed hastily towards the end of the table where a few saturated rolls lay, before jostling away to yell at a twin boy who was prodding what looked to be a fluffy gray feather duster. Seconds later, it hooted as it began to swell like a puffer fish. Sebastian was too busy watching the owl expand to the size of beach ball to notice the little scarlet haired girl in front of him.
"Umph. Sorry," he added as he swept past her and sat down in a wobbly chair.
"Ron." Sebastian kept staring at the owl, forgetting his new identity. "Ron!" A balding man tapped him on the arm. "Are you okay?"
"What? Huh? Oh.. oh, yeah I'm fine... dad." He said awkwardly. "Why?"
The man chuckled softly. "Well, after last night, with what happened, I figured you might still be a little upset."
"Over what?"
Everyone at the table let their silverware fall with a clatter and stared down at him, silent.
His dad continued uneasily. "Ron, the spell your brothers put on you..." he nodded as if it would all be understood.
"Spell? What do you mean? Like.. like magic? I don't understand."
From behind, a chubby hand planted itself on his forehead.
"Feels normal, Arthur." Came his new mom's anxious voice.
"Hmm, Molly." The man wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Son, you are feeling all right, aren't you?"
A sudden pop coming from the fireplace attracted the family's attention. To Sebastian's horror, a woman's head was floating in midair in a crackling fire. He had to suppress his urge to scream. The woman floating in the fire was extremely pretty with thick, shiny auburn hair, feisty green eyes, and smooth porcelain skin.
"Why Natalia, good morning. What's wrong? You look worried." Arthur said while trying to smooth out his hair.
"Morning Arthur," she said sweetly. "It's nothing serious, but oh, I hate to ask. It's stupid really."
Molly rolled her eyes and sighed exasperatedly while Arthur stammered his words.
"No.. no, go on."
"Well, it's the house elves. They're going crazy and shredding paper and no one's helping me clean it all up! I need a strong man to come over and help me control them! Can you hurry over, Arthur, please?"
"I'll apparrate right over. Molly! Can I have a piece of toast before I go?" He said, overpowered by the woman's seductiveness.
Molly hurried over to her husband to shove a crisp piece of toast in his mouth while he pulled on his jacket.
"'Hanks, Molhe. 'Uv oo." Arthur tried to say through his mouthful of food.
Molly kissed his cheek and scurried away to get a plate of food for herself. Sebastian strongly believed that she probably hadn't had a decent warm plate of food in years, what with six kids and all.
"Oy, Ron! Fancy teaching us that wonderful dance you did last night?" One of the twins snickered while the other catcalled.
"Sorry fag, but I don't dance." Sebastian retorted with a bite of impatience to his voice. The twins exchanged surprised looks.
"Err, fag?" One of them questioned.
"George! Where did you ever hear such a dirty word!" Their mother walloped him hard across the back of the head.
"Oww! Mum! It was..." he started to explain.
"Do you want me to put soap in your mouth like I did when you were little?" She threatened.
"No." he sighed. "Come on, Fred, we've got homework to do."
"Homework?" Fred laughed. George tried to make him understand he meant different by raising his eyebrows and nodding, but Fred didn't catch on. "Why would we want to do homework?"
"You two, what are you up to now!" Molly set her plate down with a clang and planted her hands on her waist, staring him down. ~
~~The pounding on the door rang in Ron's head.
"Mum! Just let me sleep a couple more minutes!" He groaned.
He heard the door open and felt claw-like hands fasten about his shoulders and drag him out of bed.
"Mum!" He grunted as his head hit the floor with a soft thud.
"Mum? Why the heck are you talking like the frickin British! And don't call me mum. Now get up or you'll be late for school!" She snarled.
Ron stared up at the frightening woman towering over him.
"What?" He asked incredulously. "Who.. who are you?"
"Who am I?" She shook her head, giving up, and walked out of the room muttering to just be ready for the bus in ten minutes.
Ron watched her shut the door behind her and looked about the small room he was in. It looked more like a cage than a bedroom. He shivered as the chilly air wrapped itself around him, and he pulled the warm sweatshirt he was wearing tighter around his body. Once again, his aunt came rapping at the door.
"Five minutes, boy, five minutes!" She screeched.
Ron opened the door after she had left and searched clumsily for the bathroom. Finally, after accidentally walking into a musty smelling, pink room, Ron found the bathroom and stared at himself in the cracked mirror. No more did he have a bright red mane, but a mass of wavy blonde hair. His eyes were hazel and he had a muscular build, instead of the long, gangly limbs he was accustomed to.
"All right, Sebastian, it's time to go! Now!" She yelled.
Quickly splashing his messy hair with water, he followed his surly aunt out to her rusty blue car. It started with some difficulty, rattling dangerously. With a jolt, the car lurched forward at top speed and before he knew it, they were parked in front of a rather rundown looking school.
"Well, there you go." She snapped affectionately, shoving his backpack at him.
Ron gaped at her pleadingly. He had no idea where he was or what he was getting into.
"Go!" She shouted, pushing him out. Not even bothering to wait for him to regain his composure, she sped off noisily. Ron stumbled backwards, tripping into a group of girls gossiping excitedly. They all stared at him uncertainly. Stuttering a rushed apology, he fled promptly. He stood alone for several minutes in front of the school steps, surveying everyone. Ron was just wondering if this guy he was now actually had any friends when a guy swung his hand around his neck laughing.
"Hey yo! What up man! Did you know that fag, Luke, got caught last night?" He declared.
"Fag?" He inquired.
"Yeah.." The guy said, taking his arm off. "What's up with you, man? You were really getting worked up last night over that dick stealing your money, yo."
"Oh yeah? I was?" Ron replied uneasily.
"Yo, what up with you? You ain't going weak on us?"
Ron suddenly tried to put an edge to his voice but came out sounding like he was going through puberty, "Naw; I ain't going weak on y'all."
The group of guys snorted.
"Nate, what chu on about this little pussy? He ain't tough at all."
"Oh really you stupid git?" Ron spat.
"Git? What the fuck is that?" Nate smirked.
"Oh shut up. I'm having a bad day is all."
"Well with that slut aunt of yours, I can understand why. Come on, Mr. Williams wants to see us, yo."
Ron allowed himself to be lead to the principal's office by the raucous gang.
When he read the peeling letters on the door, Ron turned to Nate.
"Hey yo," he said awkwardly. "What're we doing here?"
Nate gaped at him. "Some bad day you having, dawg." He said before knocking on the door.
"Come in," came a stern voice from inside. The two boys entered to face an overpowering man with a clenched square jaw and clean shaven face. "Well, well, well. What do we have here? A Mr. Nathaniel Easton and Sebastian Lasch, the school's two most troublesome delinquents. I think you both know why you're here, so let's get right to it. Please sit down, boys.
Well, I have spent the entire week struggling to think up an appropriate punishment for you two and have finally arrived at one. For what you two did Tuesday after gym class, I have decided to suspend you both for two months. Now," he continued, seeing the flabbergasted look he was receiving from Ron, "it may seem rather harsh, but it fits the crime. Your suspension starts today and I will personally be contacting both your parents after I finish speaking with you two to come pick you up, upon where I will inform them of why this is happening. And furthermore," but he was interrupted by his telephone ringing.
"Hello, this is Mr. Williams, principal of Itasca Junior High, speaking. Oh, Debbie, what is it? Oh, yes.. yes.. I'll be right down!" He slammed the phone down anxiously. "Please wait here boys, I'll be back in a couple minutes." And he left.
Nate laughed and stood up once he was gone.
"Threatening us with the usual, suspension, bad grades what a fucking cunt. Like we care?" Ron raised his eyebrows as Nate picked up a trophy and juggled it around. "Hey! I've just had a great idea! Let's trash his office! I mean, we've all ready got two months suspension coming, we could get expelled!" He said gleefully. Picking up a glass plaque, he threw it to the floor, where it shattered into millions of pieces.
"C'mon Sebastian, help me out here! It's too late to turn back now!"
Hesitantly, Ron got up out of the chair. Nate thrust a portfolio into his arms and then grabbed another and began to tear it apart, throwing bits of paper up in the air like confetti. Ron could only gawk at him.
"C'mon!" Nate pressured. Yet, Ron could only stand by and watch as Nate jumped about the principal's office going crazy. Spying a radio nearby, Nate tuned it into a hard core rock station and turned the music up full blast. He began to jump around like he were in a mosh pit and seized the loud speaker enthusiastically.
"Sebastian, turn it on! Put the radio up to it, it oughta really mess 'em all up!" He tossed the microphone to Ron and continued to jump around insanely and smash things. Nervously, Ron flipped the speaker on.
"Uh, testing? Ahem." He cleared his voice and set the microphone up to the radio speaker. Ironically, the song "Break Stuff" began to blare on the radio. Ron could hear the song blasting through the hallways and classrooms throughout the school and cringed at what was going to happen in the next minute. Meanwhile, Nate picked up a last award and chucked it at the door, where Mr. Williams was now standing. Catching it deftly, he stared at the two boys with amazement.
"Just what do you think you're doing?" He gasped. "I have never, in my life, seen such a thing. You two naive teenagers have nothing going for you and I don't understand it! You're in fights every other day, you have poor grades, and it's like you don't even try! I just don't understand it! You could be so much better than this! You know I have no choice but to expel you. And you will pick up this mess now." Ron sighed. What kind of life is this Sebastian guy living? ~
~ Sebastian felt as if he had just spent the day with Seigfred and Roy. Every time he turned around, his new mother would be waving a wand and things would just... happen. It has to be a dream, it has to be. There's no such thing as magic! Sebastian thought while trying to fall asleep. He was having a hard time at it considering every couple minutes; it sounded as if someone were dropping bombs in the attic above him. He sighed exasperatedly when another loud thud echoed and sat up in his bed. How am I going to get out of this? What's happening... I still don't understand! And now, they're shipping me off to... what was it? I know it begins with a B, no, a H. Hog- Hogdort? It was something like that. Now, what could that... Suddenly, a loud tapping came from the window behind him. Sebastian jumped and turned around wide-eyed, ready to expect anything after the day he'd just had. What could be up this high off the ground? It was a rather ruffled looking owl with strong feet gripping a roll of worn paper. He was hooting exhaustedly when Sebastian apprehensively opened the window to let it come in. The ocher owl landed with a fluff on his bed. What am I supposed to do? Poke it? Should I take the paper off? After a few seconds of debating, Sebastian carefully untied the parchment from the owl's legs. He was afraid the owl might nip him, but he figured it was too tired to care anyway. He unraveled the roll and glistening purple writing shone before him.
I'm really beginning to worry about Harry. He seems so distant lately. Do you think it's because of what he learned about his parent's death at the end of last school year? I still can't believe what happened. We knocked Snape out! How could we? I'm so surprised we didn't get expelled! And it's really too bad his relatives wouldn't let him come see the World Cup. He would've really enjoyed all those spectacular moves Krum kept doing. Well, I'd better get back to doing my homework. That essay Professor Binns assigned about the use of Crunukles in the War of 1412 is kind of confusing, don't you think? Tell me if you get any reply from Harry and see you in a couple days!
Love from,
Hermoine
~ "Sexually harassing and slapping a girl in your gym class simply because of what? Never mind I don't even want to know! And now this! THIS! I GET CALLED UP AT WORK TO BE ORDERED TO COME AND PICK UP MY NEPHEW! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MAD MY BOSS WAS? AND NOW YOU'VE BEEN EXPELLED! WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO GET THROUGH TO YOU! SEND YOU TO BOOT CAMP?" His aunt stopped to catch her breath and went raging on. Ron's ears were ringing and he was stunned to know that it was possible to be louder than a Howler. "I SWEAR TO IT, SEBASTIAN, YOU'RE GOING TO BE DOING SO MUCH WORK AT HOME YOU WON'T HAVE TIME TO BE OUT WITH YOUR STUPID LITTLE GANG! NOW GET IN THE CAR. NOW!" She screeched with a hoarse voice. Ron leapt up obediently and headed out to their car. The principal was still bawling out Nate, seeing as he'd ripped up portfolio papers, which apparently were irreplaceable. Why don't they use Repairo and fix it? Ron thought as he kicked a rock half-heartedly. He wanted his life back. This wasn't some nice dream; this was a horrible reality. He was somehow stuck in another boy's body and life. He'd certainly never remembered hearing that it was possible to assume another person's life, well, except for the Polyjuice Potion. Now, he would be working his tail off for his aunt, and he didn't know how long it would take for this curse to wear off. He hoped at least in time to go back to Hogwarts. Is someone else running my life right now? Maybe... maybe if I could find an owl and write a letter to myself, but would it come to the other person or me? And where are you going to find an owl? This is going to be a long trip. ~
Allright, this is my first Harry Potter fic in a while. So please, bear with me and review. I love getting constructive criticism too! I'll try and post the next part as soon
as I get time. Thanks for reading it and don't forget to review! If you have the time to read my fic, you have the time to review it.