It had been a busy day at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. School started in only three weeks and all students had come to Diagon Alley to get school supplies, and, when their parents weren't looking, sneak down to the joke shop to stock up on every joke from Skiving snack boxes to Decoy Detonators.
Now, near the end of the day, business had calmed down but there were still a few stragglers. Fred and George did their best help them out. Eventually Fred walked off to take inventory, leaving George to deal with the last costumer left. A little boy with blond hair, blue eyes and a huge smile came up to him. George looked around for the boy's parents, but saw no one.
"Excuse me, Mister. Can you show me where the Instant Darkness Powder is?" The boy asked politely.
"I'm sorry, mate. But we're closed. You gonna have to come back tomorrow." George said, extending a arm in the direction of the door.
The kid's smile fell, and George felt a little sorry for him. "Please?" The boy placed his hands together in a pleading gesture. "My parents aren't talking me here again. We already have all my school supplies. I was hoping to play this one prank on my potion's teacher...He's really mean. I wanted to get him back for all the homework he gave us over the summer."
George smiled. He had a budding prankster on his hands. "Does your potions teacher happened to be named Professor Snape?" He asked.
The boy hesitated for a second. " Yes. Snape."
George put an arm around the boy's shoulders and steered him to the other end of the store. " George Weasley at your service. You see, I have issues with Professor Snape. You, my friend, are doing the world a favor. I'll help you find Instant Darkness Powder, then I'll show you some of our best pranks to play on teachers. On the house."
As George was off to help a kid pull off the prank of the year, Fred was taking inventory. Now he didn't do this like most business did it. He didn't write down how many of each item there were on a neat little clipboard to kept on track. As he walked down the aisles all he did was give each of them a quick once-over and see if there was a decent amount left. When he came up to the Pigmy Puff cages he sucked on his teeth.
"Looks like were a little low. Are you guys lonely?" He asked the Pigmy puffs, rubbing their little heads with his finger. One licked his finger with a tiny little tongue. There were only five of them left. "Here you go." He placed a handful of the Muggle candy M&Ms in the cage. The little things loved them.
The little puffballs converged on the M&Ms faster then Fred could blink. Fred watched them nibble the candy, a small smile on his face. They were so freaking adorable.
Suddenly they froze, their tiny little eyes wide in terror. Fred turned and saw what was bothering them. A rat. Pigmy Puffs hated rats. "Don't worry little guys. I'll take care of the big bad rat for you." He pulled out his wand and shot a loud spell at the vermin, hoping to scare it off.
The rat didn't even flinch. "Come on, leave!" Fred yelled. Instead of obeying the order, the rodent ran up to him and sunk its front sharp teeth into his shoe. Fred gasped in pain and kicked his foot out, sending the rat flying. It landed on it's feet and skidded to a stop.
"You little...! You're gonna get it now!" Fred ran towards the rat, which took off towards the back of the store. They chased each other through aisle after aisle, neither one of them giving up. The rat seemed intent on pissing him off as much as it could. It knocked over merchandise, knocking it over and onto the floor. A dungbomb exploded, covering the floor in mud-like goop. "That's going to take forever to clean up!" Fred yelled at the rat, as if it should bother it.
When Fred was mere inches from catching the thing, it slipped under a door, and disappeared from sight. Fred came to a stop, his hands on his knees, breathing hard and glaring at the door. It lead to the back of the store, where they kept extras of everything, just in case. And also a few products not quite ready for the general public.
"No way your getting away that easy." He whispered, pulling open the door. Inside it was quiet and cold. The shelves threw eerie shadows on the floor. The door slammed behind him. Suddenly, Fred didn't think this was such a good idea. There was a scuffle, and Fred swung around, wand in front of him. "Who's there!" He shouted. A beam of light came out of his wand and he scanned the room. He didn't see anyone.
Another sound. It sounded like a voice. "George? Is that you?" He saw a shadow move. A figure stepped forward, and Fred gasped. Before he could scream, however, he was hit it the back of his head and collapsed. As his vision began to blur he mentally willed George to run and save himself. Then, he blacked out...
George, on the other hand was explaining to his nice young costumer exactly how to pull off one of the best pranks of the year, and going into great detail about the steps it would take to do so. The boy, laden down with nearly half of all the merchandise in the store, simply nodded, stumbling along towards the door.
George held open the door for the boy as he walked through. "Make sure to tell Snape the Weasley twins said hello, alright?"
The boy smiled at him and nodded that he would, before he walked outside. It was dark and rainy, but the little prankster didn't seem to mind. He had just pranked the master pranksters, and he couldn't wait to see the result.
After locking the door, George took off into the shop, making sure everything was in order. He wanted to make this quick. Him and George had plans to head down to the Leaky Cauldron and meet up with a few fellow joke shop owners to swap ideas. Everybody was going to be late, of course, as was custom, but he wanted to make a good impression. It was going to be his and Fred's first meeting with the masters of all that is funny. How the meeting went was going to effect the future of their joke shop. He had hoped to go over what products they were going to bring with Fred before they went, but his twin seemed to have disappeared.
"Fred? Hey, Fred!" He yelled. But nobody answered. He looked around. No one. George smiled to himself. This was probably one of Fred's jokes. "Fred, I swear if you jump out and scare me I'll tell Angelina about that time you got you butt whopped by Aunt Muriel!"
No response. George looked down aisles and behind shelves but his twin was not found. "Come on, Fred. I'm serious. I'm not in the mood right now."
But Fred didn't jump out and scare him, or pelt him with dungbombs, or anything. George was actually worried. Fred never passed up an opportunity to mess with him. "Fred?"
The next aisle he looked down was trashed. Products were spread all over the floor, some broken and others had opened, spilling their contents. Goop covered the floor, the result of a dungbomb being set off. George looked at the mess and wasn't sure what to think. Was this another prank or was Fred really in trouble?
His head started hurting, like he had just been hit. George had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach that he couldn't explain. The twin feeling he had gotten a few other times in his life. It never meant anything good."Fred?" He called out again, this time more desperately. Still there was silence.
The only place he hadn't checked was the back. George tried to cheer himself up. Fred was probably in the back and that's why he hasn't answered. He was most likely just bringing out some more products, or tweaking one of their new designs, getting it ready to sell.
Hope lighting up inside him, he headed to the back, so sure when he opened the door he would find Fred there, working on the newest line of fireworks. But when he walked inside the huge warehouse like room, he didn't see Fred. Well, he couldn't see much at all because it was so dark. He lit the tip of his wand and looked around. Nobody. "Fred? You in here?" His voice echoed through the large room.
Suddenly there was light. Flames had been lit all around the room. When his eyes adjusted, he saw the scene before him was not a good one. Death Eaters had him surrounded. Masks covered their faces but he could guess who they were. His wand was out and he pointed it at them. But he wasn't exactly sure what to do. If he took down one, there were still all the others. The door slammed shut behind him.
"Why are you here? Where's Fred? If you've hurt him I swear you'll all be sorry." His eyes scanned the crowd, looking for an escape route.
A Death Eater stepped forward, twirling their wand and walking with a drunken sort of gait. "Oh, somebody's a little angry. Does the little weasel miss his brother?" George recognized the voice immediately. Bellatrix Lestrange.
"You bit...!" But before he could finish there was a intense pain in his arm. When he looked he found that it was bleeding, a large cut ran down to his elbow. His wand arm. He shot a death glare at the insane witch, but other then that kept quiet.
"Ah, ah, ah, little weasel. No need for bad language. You want to see your brother? All you have to do is ask." She pulled off her mask and gave him a sickly grin. Her eyes were dark with huge bags under them. Her cheeks sunk into her face, contrasting with her poofy hair which was frizzier than Hermione's.
George debated telling her she could just shove it, but remembered Fred was somewhere, maybe hurt and he needed to find him. Hands clenched tightly, he forced himself to look in her crazed eyes and say, "Can I see my brother?"
The Death Eaters around him laughed. Bellatrix's smile widened. She knew she was getting to him. "Maybe if you say please..." She took a few more steps forward, head tilted to one side.
George took a deep breath, calming himself. "May I see my brother, please?" He hissed through clenched teeth.
This seemed to be enough for Bellatrix. "Alright. Bring him out." She said lazily, like she was bored with the whole thing already.
The Death Eaters parted, and the boy who George had just recently helped came forward, dragging a bound and gagged Fred behind him. Fred struggled but the boy kicked him in the stomach, and he fell onto his side. George rubbed his own stomach, feeling a somewhat phantom pain. George was about to run over to his twin, ready to take down as many Death Eaters as necessary, but Bellatrix pointed her wand at Fred, preventing any acts of heroism.
Fred's head was bleeding, and his right eye was purple. He looked up at George with a look that screamed for him to get away and save himself. George took a tentative step towards his twin, raising his wand, even though his arm was in agony. "What do you want?"
Bellatrix laughed. "This has nothing to do with what I want. If it was up to me I would kill you filthy little blood traitors as slowly as possible." She sniffed as if this was obviously the best choice. "But my master has other plans. He would like to have a little chat with you."
George froze. The Dark Lord...here? A small spasm of fear went through him. He looked at his brother, seeing if this was true. Fred nodded, his gaze flickering to the back of the store.
"Where is he? What does he want?" George demanded.
"A favor," said a voice from the shadows. The Death Eaters split off to the sides and the Dark Lord himself entered the circle. George gasped and stumbled back a few feet. He had heard about You-Know-Who, but this is the first time he had seen him. Skin as pale as snow, with scarlet snakelike eyes. He towered over everyone in the room, and he looked down on George, a small smile on his face. 'Harry wasn't lying,' he thought crazily. 'He really doesn't have a nose.'
George tried to say something, anything, but his voice seemed to have deserted him. His mouth opened and closed uselessly, making him look like a fish out of water. Voldemort took another step, putting George on edge. "So you are the other Weasley twin. George, correct?"
Without him realizing, George's hand had tightened on his wand. He forced himself to stand tall, back straight, and look at a spot next to the Dark Lord's head, so as not to lose his nerve again. "What do you want?" His voice shook slightly, but he hoped it wasn't all that noticeable. He had to act brave for his brother.
"I'm here to make an offer. We both seem to have something we want." The Dark Lord stared at him. George flinched under his gaze.
He took a deep breath. "Is that so?"
"Yes," Voldemort took out his wand and examined it. "You see, you want your brother back. And I have your brother. You do something for me, and you can get him back."
George pointed his wand at Voldemort, knowing it was probably a stupid idea. "Forget it, Snake face. I'll never make a deal with you. So how 'bout you just give Fred back and we can all be on our merry way before someone gets seriously hurt."
The smile slipped off Voldemort's face. "Lucius, bring the boy over here." He hissed, keeping his eyes on George. The little boy grabbed Fred by the collar of his shirt and started dragging him over to where Voldemort stood. George mouthed a spell and brought his wand down in a sweeping motion, but before the spell could do anything, his wand was jerked out of his hand and flew across the room, landing with a clatter on the floor. "You won't be needing that." Voldemort assured him. Lucius finally dropped Fred at Voldemort's feet with a thud and rejoined the ranks of Death Eaters.
Fred said something that, if the gag hadn't muffled it, surely would have gotten them grounded for a week. Voldemort pointed his wand at the twin on the ground. "I have heard that twins, from the moment they are born, share a certain connection. It's an interesting brand of magic." Voldemort smiled maliciously. "You two may have noticed it before. Like when you can tell if the other is in trouble or has been hurt. For example..."
Fred looked away just in time before Voldemort cast the Cruciatus Curse on him. While Fred withered and twitched on the floor in terrible pain, eyes rolling into the back of his head, George fell to his knees, tears in his eyes. The pain wasn't nearly as bad as it must have been for Fred, but it hurt terribly. He gasped in pain and clutched his stomach. There was the phantom pain again. The shadow of the real thing that was still almost as unbearable. A fire was inside him, consuming him, and it took all of his willpower not to scream.
Then it was gone. Fred was limp on the floor, his eyes closed. Luckily he was alive. George was still bent double, breathing hard. Voldemort walked closer to him, his shadow falling over George. "You feel the pain too. Not as severe, but still there. Amazing, isn't it? Two birds with one stone, you could say." Voldemort laughed a high, cold laugh that made George shiver.
He struggled to his feet and found himself face to face with the Dark Lord. George tried to look away, but Voldemort grabbed his face, forcing George took look right into his eyes. "You don't want to feel that pain again, do you? And imagine what your brother must have felt. He got the full force of it. Seems like it was too much for him." They both glanced over at Fred, who was still passed out on the floor, blood dripping down his face. "You can either do as I tell you, or you can watch your brother die. Painfully. The loss of a twin is the worse kind of loss, is it not? We'll be sure to keep you alive so you have to live with the guilt. Do you understand me?"
George gulped and stared at his brother. This was his choice to make. He was the oldest( by fourteen seconds). He couldn't lose Fred. He just couldn't. Life without Fred...it wouldn't be anything. No more jokes, no more laughs. The Dark Lord was right. Losing a twin was near impossible. Whatever the Dark Lord wanted... he would have to do it somehow. Fred couldn't die. Not for anything.
The Death Eaters stood silent, awaiting his answer. He mustered the small courage he had left and looked Voldemort dead in the eye, even though it scared the living crap out of him. "What do you want?" He repeated again.
Voldemort smiled. He leaned in close so only George could hear. "Harry Potter..."
George froze, though he had been expecting it. The Dark Lord wanted Harry... his little brother's best friend. Not to mention the-boy-who-lived, the Chosen one, and the future savior of the Wizarding World. He couldn't help Voldemort get Harry...could he? No, no, he couldn't. Harry was too important. There had to be a loophole somewhere.
"I can't. I barely see him. He hangs out with my brother, not me. Me and Fred aren't in school anymore." He admitted.
"True. But you own this shop. Harry comes here, does he not?" Anger lit up inside George.
He jabbed a finger at Voldemort's chest. "I will not betray Harry. He's gonna kick your ass one day, and you'll be sorry you ever messed with us, you bastard."
Then he was screaming. This end of the Cruciatus Curse was anything but pleasant. The pain was ten times worse than anything he could have imagined. Fire ran through his veins. He screams echoed around the room and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. The pain was agonizing. Darkness reached into the edges of his vision. It was too much...he wanted to get away, to die...
Then it stopped. Even though the pain was gone, George's body still twitched and shuddered. Voldemort's hand was the only thing keeping him standing. He took deep breathes and tried to stop the flow of tears that rolled down his face. Fred had also been twitching on the ground, but again laid still.
"I don't think you understand the severity of your situation." Voldemort whispered. "That pain is only a small dose of what I can cause. Now...You can do what I tell you, or suffer the consequences."
George glared at him on the outside, but was cowering in fear on the inside. The curse had hurt. A lot. He didn't want to experience it again. And he definitely didn't want Fred to go through that again, either. But how could he betray Harry? After all he had done? But there didn't seem to be a choice in the matter.
But he had to know one thing first.
He took a deep breath and asked, "What are you going to do to him?"
Voldemort's eyes lit up. "Do you really want to know?" He asked, his pointed teeth showing through his parted lips.
No, George didn't want to know. But he had to know. "Yes."
His head was slammed with visions. There was Harry, screaming bloody murder, convulsing on the floor, subject to a very powerful Cruciatus Cruse. Then it changed. Harry's arms were pulled above him by a chain, allowing his feet to just brush the floor. He was whimpering in pain, begging for his tormentor to stop. His pleas were ignored. A fiery whip struck, wrapping around his chest. Harry screamed again, tears falling down his face as his back arched, trying to escape the pain.
Then another vision. The-boy-who-lived was huddled in a corner. Bruises covered his body and he was covered in blood. His own. One of his eyes was black and swollen. He was so thin. There was a noise and his face darkened in fear. "Please..." he rasped, his voice almost gone. "No more...no more...No! Please!" Harry was levitated and thrown bodily into the wall. There was an audible crack and Harry sprawled on the floor. His cries rocked his body, and he coughed and shuddered. He was slammed against the wall again and again. Blood was everywhere...
"Stop...I-I don't want to see anymore." George choked. The visions were horrible. He knew they weren't real. At least not yet. But they would be if he agreed to help Voldemort.
The vision disappeared and he was brought back to the real world. The Death Eaters were whispering to each other. He pushed away from Voldemort and stumbled back.
" Remember how easily that could be your brother. Killing him would bother me in the slightest. The world could do without a blood traitor. So, are you going to do as I say?"
George looked at his brother unconscious on the floor; to Voldemort, patiently awaiting an answer, and back again. What was he supposed to do? He didn't want to put Harry through that, but he also didn't want his brother to die. The choice was laid out before him. His brother or the savior of the Wizarding World. George sighed and hung his head. Fred was going to hate him forever.
"What do I have to do?"