April 5th, 1978
It was a strangely cold that night in April, when a tall, thin man with long silver hair and a beard appeared out of nowhere in a busy street in Ottery St. Catchpole. The dim light from the moon, partly hidden behind clouds, sparkled in his half moon spectacles, which balanced on the end of his very crooked nose. He was clad in a scarlet robe with silver and gold stars, and he wore a tall pointed hat. Despite his strange appearance, no one in the bustling crowds walking home from work took a second glance at him.
The man headed down a small dark alley, coming out onto a large open field, which he crossed with surprising speed for his age. He reached a frankly ridiculous building, which looked so structurally unstable that it was hard to believe it was still standing; nevertheless, it was. The man swept down the drive, past a shed from which strange metallic sounds were escaping, past a lopsided sign which read 'The Burrow', and knocked on the door three times. A plump, red-headed woman who looked thoroughly stressed opened the door immediately.
"Good evening, Molly," said the almost weary voice of Albus Dumbledore. "I trust you are well?"
The woman in question beckoned Dumbledore inside, running her hand through her hair. "As well as I could be I suppose," she answered, forcing a smile. "I haven't been getting much sleep with two of them. It was bad enough with one baby crying, but two..." she laughed weakly. "When one goes to sleep, the other wakes up. Although I swear that's their plan, I'm almost positive I saw one of them winking at the other this morning, which definitely isn't normal for four day old babies... It's like they are purposely running me off my feet. Twins, I ask you..."
While she was saying all this, the two of them had walked through to the sitting room, where Dumbledore sat down in a squashy pink armchair and Molly took the sofa. The moment they sat down, they heard crying from upstairs.
"Oh, I'd better go get them," Molly said, looking flustered. "Sorry Albus, I won't be a moment..."
"No, no worries," he said, smiling. She dashed out of the room while he looked around the cosy sitting room. On a splintered wooden corner table was a wireless, playing some modern music that he didn't recognise. A large fireplace held dancing red flames; the scarlet glow added a certain homeliness to the room. On the wall above the fireplace a clock hung, but where the numbers should have been read various phrases such as 'home,' 'work,' 'travelling,' 'lost,' 'hospital,' 'prison,' and 'mortal peril'. There were four hands on the clock, one for each of the family members. All four hands were on 'home'; Mr and Mrs Weasley and two identical twin baby boys. Dumbledore felt a pang of sadness that the other three children had been removed from the clock. It was, however, for their own safety. He kept telling himself this, over and over again, trying to ignore any feeling of guilt that plagued him.
No, he told himself firmly. There was no other option. They understand why you did it.
He sighed, hating what he had to do. What ever happened to make him take the children away from such people as the Weasleys? They never deserved it.
"Here we go, meet Fred and George!" said Molly, walking in with one on each arm. The twins had a tuft of red hair on the top of their head and large, sparkling blue eyes.
"Well, they're simply delightful Molly," said Dumbledore, taking one of them from her and supporting them on his knee. "Which one is which?"
Her face fell as she looked from one twin to the other. "Do you know, I'm not sure!" she cried with a note of panic in her voice. "Oh I'm a terrible mother, what kind of parent..."
"Molly," interrupted Dumbledore firmly. "The most intelligent of our kind cannot tell the difference between a duck and a chicken egg."
"Er... right," she said, looking confused. Dumbledore pretended not to notice this and continued.
"Anyway, as you know Molly, I'm not here for a social call." Her face fell, but she tried not to let the tears fall. "I'm sorry, I really am, but you can't keep them. In time, you will see all your children again, but right now, it's too dangerous. Voldemort is targeting you, and everyone knows it. Blood traitors, they call you, number one on their list of who to kill. We can't keep the children here, it's too risky."
"Yes, but... but... can't we just give them to another magical family until Voldemort is vanquished?" she said, the tears now falling freely.
"I'm afraid not," he replied, bouncing the child on his knee up and down with a grave look on his face. "The only place their safe is where no one knows they have magic. It's the best thing for them."
"Albus... please..." Her tone was desperate now. He avoided her eye and stood up, handing her the twin who had now started crying.
"I'm sorry, Molly. It pains me to do this. We'll be here to collect Fred tomorrow, then George the day after."
"W...what? They won't be together?"
He bowed his head, his eyes closed. "This was the best we could do at such short notice. There were only four families available to take them, and all of them were only willing to have one. It was, sadly, impossible."
Molly was sobbing now, rocking the twins on her knees.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Molly," Dumbledore said, not daring to look her in eye. "I'm really very sorry. I wish there was another way." She was still crying when he left, shutting the door softly behind him.
As he left, he saw Arthur Weasley leaving the shed outside, and he gave him a quick 'Hello' before Disapparating. Arthur would barely look him in the eye anymore, and who could blame him? Dumbledore could hardly look in the mirror these days.
He desperately hoped it would all work out in the end, but with all the Death Eaters in the country after the Mr and Mrs Weasley, he worried for their lives.
A/N: I hope you liked this! This is an idea I've had for a while, but I never got round to planning the story out. I've got about 9 or 10 chapters planned for the moment, but there is likely to more after that. However, I'm not sure if I'll finish or not, because I'm not sure if the idea works, or if anyone likes it or not! I hope this prologue made the main idea clear though, please review and ask any questions if it's confused you! I tried my best :P Please review and tell me your opinions, reviews are gold. Thanks for reading!
Next chapter: Fred's childhood background is revealed.