Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
I am anxious. I shouldn't be, it's only lunch time, but looking at my brother's face, I know that they did something.
Looking down, I muffle a quiet groan. I had hoped that starting Hogwarts would curb those… mischievous impulses of theirs, but apparently I asked for too much. I know that our family is looked down on in our society because we don't have as much as the other Purebloods, but… I know that we're still a good family. "We are rich in happiness!" Mum always used to say. … but. I wish we had more.
So I've decided that I'm going to make our family better. I will be the best student that I can be. I will be the best Weasley that I can be. But I can't do that if those silly twins continue to pull their stupid pranks!
It's been just over a month since they started at Hogwarts and they were so good… I guess that was my first hint that they were planning something… Something big. They always say, "It's the quiet ones…" but the twins aren't quiet…. They have quiet moments. And you should be really scared whenever they do.
I take a quick glance around the Great Hall, barely hiding the urge to nibble on my bottom lip (that's so undignified), when I notice the first stirrings of trouble. Three Ravenclaws have all started to hiccup. Now, odds say that this could be circumstance, however I know that look on my brothers' faces, it's the same one they get before pulling a prank on Ron, and … and… I know they're behind this.
There's now 9 Ravenclaws with the hiccups, 3 Slytherins from what I can see, and … Oh goodness, about 15 Hufflepuffs.
"Percy –hic." That's Oliver. And now Gryffindor has hiccups too. Giving him a quick glance, I just smile benignly and ask, "Yes Oliver?"
"Are you –hic- seeing what I'm –hic- seeing?" The budding Quidditch fanatic asks me.
"Oh… yes…. Yes I am." I try … I try so hard to hide how exasperated I already am with my brothers, but I know a little bit slips out and Oliver can see it. After two years, it's easy for him to see it.
"Is it your –hic—. " I don't even let him finish before I start nodding. I've told Oliver before about all the things those mischievous imps I call brothers do while I'm at home during the summers, and he's clever enough to guess. I can hear that over half of Hufflepuff table is hiccupping, nearly half of Slytherin, Most of Ravenclaw and Gryffindor—and… are some of the STAFF hiccupping too!? Oh, sweet gods, why. I cast a glance to my older brother in hopes that he may do something, but he's too busy hiccupping himself. Oh, that's definitely not good. Charlie hates being pranked.
A look at the twins' faces shows that they have realized their mistake just before every student who is hiccupping goes up in a cloud of smoke. The previous noise is now replaced by coughing—clearly they overdid whatever made the smoke for this prank—and as the air clears it's obvious the intention of the prank. Every student who had been hiccupping is now sporting a hairdo that would make a clown envious in its array of colors.
I won't lie, this was a masterful prank. They had to have gotten help from the house elves, that's the only way they could have gotten so many people hit with this prank, especially since a few teachers got—oh my… Headmaster Dumbledore….. That's painful to look at. That's a lot of color. There should not be that many colors on one person.
Unbidden, a giggle slips up through my throat. It comes out a tiny snort before I fall forward with my forehead on the table as I start laughing.
It seems I was the flood gates because now everyone is laughing, even as Charlie is dragging the twins away from the table for Detention, with Professor McGonagall following in their wake. As much as I disapprove of pranks… the twins are very… very good at them.
AN: I'm teaching a summer school program on creative writing… I need to make example stories (or at least plan them) and they will run away with me. This was from the lesson about different POVs.
