Disclaimer:  I own none of the characters depicted in this story.  They all belong to JK Rowling, and while I might hope to inherit her fortune someday, it is not likely.

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"But it's soooooo hot!"  Ten year old Fred Weasley looked imploringly at his mother.  He was doing his best pleading, poor little puppy dog eyes, but she seemed completely unfazed by them.

"I already said no," she said firmly.  "And if you ask me again, you're really going to regret it."

"But Mum-"

"What did I just say?"  She stared at him sternly with the eyes she always used when she was thisclose to losing her temper.

Fred knew well enough when to leave well enough alone, but apparently his identical twin wasn't quite so observant.  George bounded in from the kitchen with two freshly-baked cookies he'd apparently nicked from the batch cooling on the counter.

"Mum, can we go swimming?"  He offered one of the cookies to Fred but ended up losing them both as his mother snatched them away from him roughly.


"Who told you that you could have a cookie?" she demanded sharply, though it was clear she was not waiting on an answer.  Instead, she glared from one twin to the other.  "No, you are not going swimming, and I don't want to hear another word about it."

"But Mum, that's not fair!" protested George immediately.  Fred cringed as his mother rounded on his brother and stared at him in disbelief.

"Oh, it's not, is it?"  Luckily, George knew enough not to answer.  "Well, try this out for fairness- I'm your mother, so you have to do what I say, and I say no.  You know the rules; you're not allowed to swim unless there's someone older to watch you, and I'm too busy.  Now, would you like to argue your point anymore?" 

It was a dare, and both twins knew it.  Neither of them liked to back down from dares, but Fred knew when to push his mother and when not to.  Apparently, though, George was a bit braver...

"Well, actually-" he started in a rather grown-up sounding voice.  But his mother shot him such a warning look that he shut up immediately.  "Uh, no, ma'am."

They offered her identical smiles of innocence and obedience.

She rolled her eyes.  "Go find your brother and sister."

Fred and George let out unison groans of disgust.  "But Mum," whined Fred, "do we have to?"

"I'm sorry."  She looked nothing close to sorry.  "I didn't remember giving you an option.  My memory must be going..."

Something in the back corner of Fred's mind wondered if she would possibly buy it if he tried to convince her that, yes, she had actually offered them an option and maybe she ought to get her head checked.  Somehow, though, he didn't think that would achieve anything except getting him a very sore backside.  Instead, he just gave her another sickeningly sweet smile and politely said, "We'll find them, Mum."

She watched him suspiciously for a moment, quite clearly not trusting him for a second.  However, she had a humongous pile of dirty laundry around her, so she just pursed her lips and sighed.  "And stay outside until I call you for dinner.  I'm very busy."

Both twins nodded and said, "Yes, ma'am," in matching obedient voices before turning away and hurrying out the back door.

The air outside was hot and muggy, and Fred tugged at the collar of his t-shirt immediately.  "It's so damn hot!" he said miserably, checking behind him once just to make sure his mother hadn't followed them outside and was within hearing distance of his swearing.

"I know!"  George tugged at a branch as they ducked under the only shade tree in the

backyard.  "Why won't she let us go swimming?"

"Because we have to have someone older," Fred mimicked smartly as he flopped onto the ground and picked idly at a blade of grass.  "She acts like we don't know how to swim!"

George rolled his eyes.  "Like we're babies or something!"

"Speaking of," Fred said lazily.  "Aren't we supposed to be looking for Ron and Ginny?"

George shrugged.  "I don't want to find them."

"Me, either."

Their wish, though, was not granted.  Their seven year old sister, Ginny, came bounding up to them not long afterwards, a wad of pink bubblegum popping in her mouth.  She was quite dirty, as she tended to be most the time, but with six older brothers it was only natural for her to be somewhat of a tomboy. 

"Watch this," she commanded them, as she forced her way in between them and sat down carefully.  Concentrating very hard, she slowly blew a bubble as big as her head.  Truthfully, it was a bit impressive, but Fred rolled his eyes.

"Big deal."

"Yeah, big deal," agreed George before reaching out a single finger and popping the bubble, leaving Ginny's face covered in a huge mess of sticky bubblegum.

She let out an outraged gasp and glared at him as she tugged at the gum in a struggle to clean her face.  "I'm telling Mum!" she said furiously, when she finally got cleared of the gum and had stuck it all back into her mouth.

"Tattletale, tattletale," taunted Fred in a baby voice.  He knew that it made her furious whenever spoke to her in such a childish tone; he knew it made her even angrier when someone teased her about being the youngest.  "Only babies tattle," he said with raised eyebrows.

She huffed up and crossed her arms, her lower lip protruding just slightly from her upper one.  "You're so mean."

Fred clutched at his heart sarcastically.  "Oh, no!  I feel so awful!"  He dropped the act and glared at her.  "Now, get out of here.  We're busy."

Suddenly, though, she gave up pouting and turned a maddeningly superior look on him.  Her eyes went wide and her lips contracted into a little point.  "You can't make me.  I can be here if I want."

"Want to bet?" he asked her fiercely. 

"Yes," she said firmly, though her eyes glanced very quickly from one twin to the other.

"You've got about three seconds," said George, joining in on the bullying, "before we make you leave."  He looked meaningfully at his already balled fist and then back at his little sister.

Ginny, though she followed his gaze to his fist and wavered for a moment, held her ground.  She looked back up with raised eyebrows.  "You can't hit me."

"Want to bet?" Fred asked again.

"Yes."  Ginny answered briskly.  "If you hit me, you'd be in loads of trouble."

"It would be worth it," said George unblinkingly.

Fred, though, knew this wasn't true.  George was only using his threat as a scare tactic.  Ginny was right; their mother would likely beat them into oblivion if they so much as laid a finger on their sister.  Ginny should have been a boy!

"Go find Ron and have a tea party or something," Fred said snidely.  "Go do whatever it is that you babies do."

"Ron's going inside," Ginny said primly, ignoring his jab at her age.  "He's going to ask Mummy if we can go swimming."

Fred and George exchanged knowing smirks.  Ron would certainly blow their mother's temper if he went in and asked the question they'd already been bugging her about.  He would get in trouble for no good reason.


Life was sweet.

But suddenly a thought occurred to Fred.  "No!" he said, jumping up and pulling Ginny roughly to her feet.  "Run and catch him.  Tell him to come here!"

Ginny stared at him suspiciously, and George looked at him as though he'd completely lost his nut.  His twin could obviously fathom no reason whatsoever why he would actually want their little brother to join them.

"Why?" Ginny asked, planting her hands on her hips.  "What are you going to do to him?"

"Nothing," he assured her, pushing her along a bit.  "Just hurry and tell him to come here.  Go, on!"  He shoved her in the direction of the house where, if he strained his eyes, he could see Ron treading slowly along toward the door.  Ginny looked back at him crossly once more but amazingly did what he told her to do and started running up the hill after Ron.

"Why in the world do you want him to come here?" George asked incredulously the moment Ginny was out of earshot.

"Because if he goes to Mum we'll be in big trouble."  Fred stood on tiptoe to see if Ginny had caught up with their brother.

"No, Ron'll be in trouble," George said, squinting up at him; the tree offered a bit of shade but not nearly enough.  "Mum'll go crazy if he bugs her about swimming."

"No, we'll be in trouble," said Fred impatiently.  "Because we're supposed to be watching them and keeping them out of the house.  Mum will know we didn't even try to find them."

"Oh," said George, nodding his comprehension.  "Right.  I forgot about that."

Fred strained his eyes and could barely see Ginny catching up with Ron just in time.  They stood talking for a moment, and Fred grinned as an idea entered his head.  "Hey, George," he said quietly, though there was no way their younger siblings would have been able to hear them.  "Let's tell them they can swim."

"We're not allowed," said George automatically.  "You know Mum'll kill us if there's no one older to watch."

"Well, we're older, aren't we?"  Fred turned back to his twin and grinned mischievously.  "And Mum never said specifically who, she just said someone older."

George cottoned on quickly and almost instantly returned an identical grin.  "And think how mad Mum'll get at them when they go back to the house soaking wet."

"Yeah, because none of us are supposed to swim without asking first-"

"-And they won't have asked at all."

The twins snickered at their positively brilliant idea.  It was the perfect way to get their younger siblings into trouble without joining them in punishment.  Normally, whenever Ron and Ginny got in trouble, Fred and George got in just as much if not more because they were usually the leaders in whatever got them all into trouble in the first place.  But this time, though, the plan was foolproof.  When Ron and Ginny got in trouble for swimming, the twins could easily claim that they were following the rules and simply offering themselves as someone older so that their little brother and sister could have fun without bothering their mum, as she was, after all, very busy. 

Because Ron and Ginny knew they weren't allowed to swim without asking first. 

The only glitch would be convincing them that it was alright this time, but that would be easy.  Fred and George could be quite convincing when need arose.

"What do you want?" Ron stumbled the last few feet down the hill, and Ginny hurried along behind him.

Ron had to be even more annoying than Ginny was, and that was quite an accomplishment.  But at least they could hit Ron.  However, Fred forced himself to smile sweetly at the younger boy and just said, "Mum's really busy, and she asked us not to let anyone disturb her.  But if you want to bother her, go ahead.  Just be prepared for her temper."

George nodded seriously.  "Yeah, go ahead if you want.  We just wanted to warn you."

Ron eyed them just as suspiciously as Ginny and their mother had earlier; honestly, was it so unlikely that they might just want to help someone out now and then?  Fred was a bit offended. 

"What do you really want?" Ron asked, still eyeing them.

George let out an indignant huff.  "That is what we really wanted," he said briskly.  "But you don't have to believe us if you don't want to.  It's your arse on the line; we could care less."  Fred nodded for reinforcement.

"You aren't supposed to be swearing!" Ginny said, sounding completely scandalized. 

"Shut up, Ginny," said all three of her brothers in unison.  Ginny glared at them all and then huffed up, crossing her arms over her chest and shooting them dirty looks.

"I just wanted to know if we could go swimming," said Ron, carelessly.  "I'll just ask her quickly and won't bug her."

Fred shrugged.  "Fine.  Go ahead."

"We'll pray for you," added George listlessly.

"Oh, fine," said Ron, giving up.  "I won't ask her."

"Good."  Fred grinned and caught George's eye just for a millisecond.  "You don't have to ask her anyway."

"Why not?"

"Because George and I'll watch you," he said simply.  "That way you don't have to bother Mum."

Ron snorted.  "Right.  I'm sure..."

"What?" George demanded, pretending to be offended.  "Don't you trust us?"

"In a word... No."  Ron turned away and started back up the hill, but Fred caught his arm.

"C'mon, Ron," he said coaxingly.  "Mum told us that as long as there's someone older around, we can swim, right?  Well, we're older."

"She means a grownup," piped Ginny smartly. 

"Percy's not a grownup," George pointed out immediately.  Fred nodded, impressed at his twin's quick reasoning. 

"Well, Percy won't be home from school for another two weeks," Ron said blankly.  "So, what's that got do with anything?"

"He's allowed to watch you when he's home, isn't he?"  Ron hesitated but nodded.  "So, he's not a grownup, but he can watch you because he's older, and we're," George motioned between himself and Fred, "older than you, too."

"Yeah, but Percy wouldn't try to drown us, either."

Fred stared at his little brother.  "I cannot believe you said that," he said, doing what he considered a very good impression of a deeply offended person.  "We would never even think about drowning you."

"You tried to bury me alive once," Ginny said seriously.


Fred tried desperately but failed at not snickering.  George didn't have much better luck.  The memory of a six year old Ginny up to her neck in sand and crying as they continued to tip buckets over her head was still quite humorous.  Of course, when their dad happened outside at that exact moment and saw what they were attempting, things weren't quite as funny.  The only other time Fred had ever gotten in that much trouble with his father had been on Christmas when he was five and had cleverly turned Ron's new teddy-bear into a rather large spider. 

Both times had been worth it, though.

Recovering quickly from his laughing bit, Fred looked at his sister and said, "Oh, we were never going to finish it for real."

Ginny stared at him but said nothing.  Ron, though, shook his head promptly.  "You're just trying to get us in trouble.  We're not allowed to swim without asking Mum or Dad first."

"Mum's so busy, though," said George convincingly.  "She won't care as long as you've got proper supervision."


"But you're not proper supervision!" Ron said loudly, apparently losing his temper.  It was funny, really.

"We're older!" insisted George just as loudly. 

"Well, if that's all that matters," said the younger boy pointedly, "shouldn't Fred be allowed to supervise you?"

Both twins looked at each other in amazement that they hadn't been the ones to think of that loophole.  Fred was, after all, older than George by seven minutes.  It would be an interesting twist on the someone older rule someday but just not right now.  Now, their task was to convince Ron and Ginny to go for a swim.  There would be plenty of time to test out the new twist later on; there were, after all, a ton of restrictions broken only if someone older was watching.

"Well, yes," George conceded, turning his attention back to his younger brother.  "But I don't want to swim right now."

"Do you really not think we'll get in trouble?"  Ginny looked up at the twins with those huge brown eyes of hers.  Fred almost felt bad about deceiving her.


Almost.

"Of course not.  You're following all the rules except the one about asking Mum, and she won't care because she's up to her elbows in laundry.  She'll be really pleased that you're staying out of her way."

"I don't believe you," said Ron firmly, crossing his arms and looking at them stonily.  "There's no way you're just offering to be nice."

Fred was incredibly close to losing his temper with the little brat, and George, apparently, had already lost his.  Fred watched with a smirk as George shoved Ron roughly, causing the smaller boy to stumble backwards and land on the grass. 

"Look, you little git," said George warningly.  "We are being nice," he said angrily through clenched teeth.  "But if you don't believe us, we'll just have to knock some sense into you."  Fred debated in his head which would be more amusing- watching Ron get into trouble with their mother or beating him up.  It was a tough choice.

Ron glared up at the older boy for a long moment before muttering something and standing back up.


"What was that?" George asked, pushing an ear toward Ron.  "I didn't catch that."

"I said I hate you," said Ron loudly. 

"Oh, hold on a second while we cry," said Fred mockingly.


Ron glared at him, and the twins watched with amusement as he clenched and unclenched his fist, apparently trying to work up enough courage to throw the first punch.  He wouldn't, of course; he knew he didn't stand a chance.  He had about as much chance of being able to win in a fight against them as Percy did of becoming Quidditch captain at Hogwarts.  Instead, he just looked hatefully from one to the other and said, "You know what?  One day I'm going to be bigger than both of you."

Fred and George went into guffaws of laughter at this.  George actually had to clutch at a stitch in his side that had come up at the hilarity of his little brother's words.

"No, you won't!" said Fred, struggling through his laughter.  "You will always be an annoying little scrawny twerp!  You will never be bigger than us!"  To prove his point, he followed his twin's lead and shoved Ron back to the ground, sniggering as his little brother winced and held up his palm for examination; when he'd fallen, he had apparently tried to catch himself but only ended up scraping his hand badly on a rough tree root, as it was now cut up and bleeding.

"Ooh, you're going to be in trouble now!" exclaimed Ginny, bending down to get a better look at Ron's hand.  She looked back up at the twins.  "Mum's going to be very mad."

"No, she's not," Fred said confidently, looking meaningfully at Ron.  "Because he's not stupid enough to tell, are you, Ron?"

Ron glared up at him defiantly.  It was obvious that the younger boy was forcing himself not to cry, and with good reason, too; the cut looked awful, but they would never let him live it down if a single tear fell.  In fact, Ron had to be considered a pro at not crying; the last time Fred could remember seeing him shed tears had been when he was four years old and had broken his arm 'falling' down the kitchen stairs.  He and George hadn't teased him then, as they were quite grateful for his falling story; shoving their little brother down the stairs and causing him to break his arm would have gotten them in loads of trouble.

Now, though, Ron just stood back up and dusted himself off, carefully avoiding the use of his injured hand.  He ignored Fred's question, but it was clear that he knew better than to tell on them. 

"We have to go back inside to get our suits," Ron said bitterly, scowling at the ground.

"Good boy!" George exclaimed, clapping him on the back.  "Glad to see you've taken us up on our offer."

Ron just continued to scowl.

"Take the side door," Fred explained to the younger ones.  "Mum's doing laundry, so be very careful not to go near that part of the house.  You don't want to disturb her, right?"  Ginny nodded her understanding, and Ron kicked mindlessly at a loose stone.  "Then be really quiet coming back down because you know the stairs squeak."

"And hurry back," George added as their siblings turned and started back up the hill to the house.  

Once they were far enough away, the twins shared a high five.  This was going to be great!  For once, it would be someone else getting blessed out instead of them.

Fred and George settled back on the grass, commending themselves for a job well done.

"They believe anything we tell them," said George with a snicker.

"Mum's going to go mental on them when she finds out."

"Do you reckon she'll let us off the hook, though?"

Fred shrugged.  "She's got to, hasn't she?  We're not doing anything wrong, are we?  All we're trying to do is allow our little brother and sister to enjoy this horribly hot afternoon."

George rolled his eyes shook his head slowly.  "Yeah, right..."

"They just better not make any noise while they're getting their suits."

"Yeah, because if Mum finds them, Ginny'll tell her everything."

Fred nodded.  "She's such a snitch."

"And not the golden kind, either."

They continued to chatter on, mostly about how brilliant they were, and finally Ron and Ginny reappeared, both wearing their swimming suits under their clothes.  Ginny looked excited, but Ron was still wearing a rather bitter expression.

"Ready then?" said George standing up and leading the way to the pond.  His twin and his younger siblings followed along behind him, and they all stopped at the edge of the bank, peering into the slightly murky water. 

"I'm scared," Ginny announced suddenly.  Her brothers all looked at her oddly.

"Of what?"

"We're not supposed to be doing this," she said adamantly.  "And I just know we're going to get in trouble."

Fred sighed loudly and took his little sister by the arm.  "You're not going to get in trouble because you're not doing anything wrong," he told her firmly.  "Now do you want to swim, or don't you?"


She bit down on her lower lip and nodded slightly.

"Well, then go," Fred said, flinging his arms toward the water.  "Nobody's stopping you."

"I can't see the bottom."  Ginny stared out into the pond.  The oldest boys groaned; Ron, though, appeared a bit surprised.

"Yeah, me, either," he said, eyeing his older brothers curiously.  "We don't know what's really down there."

Fred glared at the little prat; he had the seriously sinking suspicion that Ron was trying to pull something on them, though he couldn't figure out what it could possibly be.  "You've swam in it a million times," he managed to mutter through gritted teeth.  He was looking very pointedly at his younger brother, but Ron just seemed completely nonplussed.

"Yeah, but something could have gotten into it since the last time we were in there."

Balling his hand into a fist, Fred resisted the urge to pummel the brat.  "Well, what do you want us to do about it?"

"Maybe you should test it out first."

Fred caught his twin's eye, and they stared at each other for a moment, both obviously trying to figure out what was really going on.  Still, though, there didn't seem to be any harm in it.  They could go for a quick dip and be completely dried off by the time they were supposed to go back inside and greet their mother.  They could have a bit of swim, and no one would be the wiser.  A silent look shared with George told him that they were both thinking the same thing.

"Alright," he said casually, looking straight at Ron.  "But you be the lookout because there's no one out here older than us to watch."

Ron grinned and nodded.  It was almost too cheerful.  "Sure," he said brightly.

With one last careful glance at the younger boy, Fred and George stripped down to their shorts and dove into the pond.  The water was cool and refreshing, and at the moment, neither of them was sure that there was any possible better feeling.

Meanwhile, back on the bank...

"Do you really think they're trying to trick us?"  Ginny squinted in the sun as she watched Fred and George laughing and splashing each other in the middle of the pond.  Her brother, Ron, rolled his eyes and leaned back on his elbows as they sat side-by-side on the grassy bank.

"Course they are," he said matter-of-factly.  "They wouldn't just be nice to us for no reason."

"So you really think there's something down in the pond that could hurt us?"

Ron nodded.  "There's no way they'd just offer to watch us unless it was to see us drown or something."

"I don't think they'd try to drown us." 

"That's because you're stupid."

Ginny glared at Ron out of the corner of her eye.  "I'm not stupid," she said defiantly.  "You're stupid."

He rolled his eyes.  "Ooh, good comeback, Gin."

She hated when he was sarcastic.  "You know what?  You're just as mean as they are."  She nodded at the twins, who were now having a race to the far side of the pond.

He shrugged.  "Big deal."

"And I think you smell bad, too."

Ron gave her a strange look before rolling his eyes again.  "You're so stupid."

"You already said that."

They were so busy bickering that they didn't even notice someone coming down the hill toward the lake.  In fact, they were completely oblivious to everything until they heard the shouting.

"Get out of that water this instant!"

They both jumped in shock at the sound of their mother's voice.  She was standing very close to the edge of the pond and looked absolutely livid.  Her face was red, and she was glaring sharply at the two boys who were now swimming rapidly for the bank, apparently smart enough not to make her wait at all.

"Oh, they're in trouble now," whispered Ginny, forgetting all about her insult-swap with Ron.


He nodded, half in awe with a somewhat uplifted expression on his face.  "Yeah, they sure are..."

"What did I tell you?" demanded their mother forcefully as soon as the twins had climbed out of the water a bit away from her.  "Get over right now!"

Fred and George clamored over to her, the now frightened expressions not hidden from their faces.  Ginny almost felt sorry for them until she remembered how mean they were being to her earlier, and then she figured they deserved whatever they got.

"You two have had it now!" said their mother loudly, grabbing each of them by the forearm when they were close enough.  "You won't be swimming any time soon, and you'll think twice before disobeying me again, I can promise you that."

Ginny glanced over at Ron, who was now smiling as if Christmas had just come early.  The twins, though, looked as if their next ten Christmases had been canceled. 

"Oh, you just wait," promised the now very angry mum.  "You just wait."

She started pulling them up toward the house, apparently without even noticing that her two youngest children were sitting by watching the whole thing.  It wasn't until Ron jumped up at the last minute that she even seemed to realize they were there.

"Um, Mum," he said eagerly.  "Whenever you get a chance, can you watch me and Gin swim?"

Ginny half-expected her mother to yank Ron up, too, but instead she just smiled sweetly and said, "Yes, of course, Dear.  Just give Mummy a few minutes."  Then she went right back to her grimace and continued marching the twins away. 

Ron was still smiling broadly, showing off the gap in his mouth where his two front teeth had been until recently, when he turned around and went back to sit beside Ginny.

"See?  They should have just let me ask her in the first place."

Ginny sighed and looked back out toward the pond. 


Sometimes she just didn't understand boys at all.

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 Ah, kiddy Weasleys are cute!  Feedback is much appreciated!