Topic: The Weasley twins are sick on Christmas
Time: Winter holidays during the year before Harry comes to Hogwarts
Place: Hogwarts
Format: Oneshot
Content: Fred and George Weasley get sick at the beginning of the winter holidays; however, since they have made an arrangement with Professor Dumbledore to hold a snowman building contest on Christmas day, for which they have a brilliant idea, which they don't want to miss, they try to hide their illness from everyone and look after each other. However, before, during or after the contest, one of the adults should notice and nurse them back to health.
Conditions: Someone at Hogwarts has to look after them. Mrs. Weasley is not available, since the Weasleys have gone to visit Charlie, leaving the twins at Hogwarts.
Deadline: 31st of December, 2009.

**

Disclaimer: JKR owns everything and makes money, I don't.

Author's Note: This was written for Healer Pomfrey's Winter/Christmas challenge and is also posted on

Unlikely Help

"Gred?"

"Yes Forge?" Fred asked, wincing at the sound of his own voice. It sounded hoarse, rough and speaking had hurt.

"Do you feel the way I feel?" George pushed himself up into a sitting position and looked across to the next bed that his brother was lying in. Lee had gone home for the Winter Break and they were almost alone in the tower, only Percy, their fourth year brother, had also remained behind.

Fred pulled his blankets more tightly around and closed it eyes. "Depends. Do you feel-"

"like crap? Yeah, I do." George left his bed, dragging his blankets behind him. He crawled into bed next to his brother and cuddled into the boy's warmth. "You're nice and warm." He shivered despite feeling warmer.

Fred sneezed loudly and grabbed his wand to quickly summon a box of tissues to the bed. He blew his nose and handed one to his brother. They always seemed to get sick at the same time. No matter what happened.

"Want to go back to sleep?" George asked. "There isn't anything going on today. And McGonagall will be busy enough marking that project we just handed in. She won't notice if we aren't at breakfast."

"Percy might." Fred reminded his brother. Percy did get on their nerves, but that was because he was an older brother. Siblings are suppose to get on each others nerves. So is the natural way of things, Fred and George didn't truly hate Percy.

The two brothers glanced at each other. "Screw Percy." They said together and began to laugh, stopping when they started to cough painfully.

George stretched out and relaxed under the blankets. "Good morning Forge."

"Morning Gred."

The two brothers closed their eyes and let sleep carry them away in hopes that it would take their illness with it.

George woke around lunch and blinked. His eyes felt all crusty and his mouth was dry and icky. It took a moment, but he slowly sat up and waited for the dizzy spell to pass. "Fred, I'm not feeling any better. I'm feeling worse."

Fred blinked his eyes open in the same manner as his brother. After a moment he stopped and sat up slowly. "I need some water." He said, his voice dry and raspy. "And the lav."

George nodded in agreement and the two of them slowly leaned on each other until they were in the showers. George refilled the pitcher from their dormitory with water and waited for Fred to finish washing his hands before heading back to bed.

Both boys drank a glass of water and sighed in relief from the cool liquid soothing their throat. "That was nice." Fred said, smiling now that he was feeling slightly better. "Want to talk about out idea some more?"

"Which one?" George used a summoning charm to get their notebook full of ideas and planning and research that they'd done. "Those candies that make you break out in boils? I still say that a little less frog juice would solve the problem."

Fred ignored his brother. "Not those plans. The plans for the snowmen building contest! Remember, it's suppose to be tomorrow and we're the ones that convinced the headmaster to hold it. We've got to win!" He flipped open their notebook to a page of sketches. "I have some ideas and I think with this one we'll have the cat in the bag."

George looked at his brother's idea and nodded happily. "That certainly does look good. We just need to make sure that we're not sick then. Somehow I don't think that we can fool everyone. I saw myself in the mirror Fred. And I wouldn't mind going back to sleep."

"Sure. Sleep sounds good." Fred relaxed next to his brother. With all the sleep they were getting, and the water they should be better by morning. After all, mum always had us sleep and drink lots of liquids when we were sick.

But when the brothers woke up six hours later, things weren't looking good. It was hot now, for Fred at least. Everything seemed to be on fire, his skin, his face, his insides. It was like getting sunburned and drinking too hot tea while sitting in front of a roaring bonfire. It wasn't pleasant.

"George, George! Wake up!" He shook his brother after taking a drink of the water they'd gotten earlier. It was still cool and sweet against his hot throat. His hands were shaking too much to hold the glass steady, but the water he spilled felt very nice against his hot neck and chest.

"Yeah?" George asked, opening his eyes and burrowing further under the blankets. Everything felt freezing cold, the air burned his lungs and despite the blankets and his brother's boy, he just couldn't get warm.

"I'm really hot." Fred tried to squirm away from his brother. "Can we banish these blankets?"

George wanted to protest when his brother pulled away from him, it was even colder when he was alone. "No wait." He said hoarsely and pulled all the covers around himself. "I'm freezing."

Somehow the words registered in Fred's mind, the parts that weren't frying in fever. "Really George? Don't you feel cold with a really high fever?" He asked, trying to resist the urge to run outside in the snow naked to cool off.

George moved his shoulders up and down under his pile of blankets. "No idea." He rolled over and closed his eyes. "I'm going back to sleep."

Fred wanted to go back to sleep to. But he felt like he really needed to check on his brother. He sat up, ignoring the dizziness that hit him and put a hand on his sleeping brother's forehead. It was very warm and his hand came away wet with sweat. He climbed slowly out of bed and walked with quite a bit of difficulty into the showers.

A cool shower made Fred feel much better, at least cooler. He pulled on a shirt that had probably belonged to Bill a few year ago. It fell almost to his knees and helped him stay cooled off. Since his mind was clearer now and he was feeling a little better, Fred hurried into the toilet and took the muggle thermometer out from the cabinet. He could remember one of the other boys getting sick earlier in the year and Professor McGonagall had placed a thermometer in every dormitory to help room mates care for their peers and friends.

Fred took the glassy stick and slowly walked back into the bedroom. He sat down on the bed next to his brother and tried to remember how the device worked. "George. George!" He gave his brother a few shakes and smiled when he finally opened his eyes. "Open your mouth, I found a thermometer. It will tell us how high your fever is."

George opened his mouth and shivered at the cold feel of the thermometer, but he waited until his brother took it back. "Is it high?" He asked, wishing that he felt better or could go back to sleep and that the snowmen building contest would hurry up and arrive.

Fred studied the glass stick. "I don't know. Is 40 degrees high? What's normal? Maybe the line's a little higher." He twisted and turned the device, trying to get an accurate reading. "Oh well. I'm going back to sleep."

"Wait a second. Set an alarm to wake us up about an hour before the contest." George reminded his brother. "I don't want to oversleep and miss anything. Too bad we're not feeling better. It's a great time for pranks, especially with only us and Percy in Gryffindor tower."

Fred nodded and climbed onto his brother's bed. He was too hot to comfortably share a bed with his brother. It was much better this way. Plus they wouldn't look sick if someone happened to come in, it would look like they were simply having a nap.

**

In George's opinion the alarm went off far too early. He didn't feel much better, only slightly warmer and nowhere near ready to build an amazing snowman. "Fred, it's time to get up. Time for the contest. We need to get up."

The two brothers managed to pull themselves together and get dressed. Both dawned woollen jumpers from the year before and heavy winter coats on top. They added scarves and hats and mittens and gloves. And only then, did the twins feel ready to venture out in to the cold, bitter winds and snow covered grounds.

There wasn't many participants in the snowmen building contest. Most people had gone home for the holidays and other, like Percy, simply weren't interested in joining in. But there was a team of third year Hufflepuffs and two fifth Ravenclaws were out. But they seemed more interesting in kissing then in building snowmen. And Dumbledore was going to play too. Some how he'd gotten Professor McGonagall, Snape and Flitwick to agree to judge the contest.

"All right then. You have one hour and anything goes!" McGonagall announced before shooting red sparks from her wand to signify the start of the contest. The four teams turned to their areas of snow and all of them except for Fred and George started talking about their plans.

While they were getting ready to come out, the twins had decided exactly who was going to do what and how the plan was going to work. George started rolling large snowballs and Fred made smaller ones and started carving them out with a spell from his wand.

It didn't take long for the Weasley team to get all their balls rolled in order and stacked on top of each other. They were far ahead of the other teams, but that was the idea. Get it over with quickly so that they could get back inside and back in bed.

Fred was breathing heavily from the magic use and the cold. His cheeks were flushed and his wand hand had started to shake a little, the lines weren't as precise and neat as he wanted them to be. George glanced over at his brother every few minutes, but he was dealing with his own increasing exhaustion.

"Mister Weasley?" Professor McGonagall stopped in front of their sculpture and looked down at the boy kneeling in the snow. "Are you feeling all right?" She bent down and removed her glove to feel his forehead. "Mister Weasley." She beckoned over George. "Have you noticed illness in your brother at all? He does not seem well."

George looked down at his brother for a moment. He didn't want to betray him to McGonagall, but at the same time he felt that his brother could use some help. He turned back to the Head of Gryffindor, still not certain what he was going to say. Luckily, or unluckily, his body made the decision for him and he let out a few harsh coughs.

"Mister Weasley, are you ill as well?" The teacher asked him. "The both of you?" When the twins nodded miserably she continued, "finish up here. Then I will return for you." She pulled her glove back on and turned to leave. "And Misters Weasley? Finish up means you have another five minutes."

The twins exchanged hopeless looks. They needed at least another twenty minutes to finish their sculpture and, hopefully, take the first place in the competition.

"I think I know. Let's try this. . ." George beckoned his brother close and the two exchanged whispers and spilt apart smiling happily. They knew idea was even better than the last one.

By the time the professor returned for them, the twins were finished and were slumped against each other proudly in front of their entry to the snowmen competition "All right Professor McGonagall. We're finished." Fred told her, trying not to let his voice sound raspy.

Minerva raised an eyebrow and looked over the boys' work. "Interesting. Come with me please." She lead them into the school and up to the second floor.

George groaned. "Oh no, not the Hospital wing professor. Let us return to our dormitory please. We can take care of each other there and not have Madame Pomfrey breathing down our necks." He groaned when the woman shook her head.

Fred looked at his brother. He must be really ill to think that this is the way to the Hospital wing. It's not even in the right section of the castle. He thought.

"No Mister Weasley. I am not taking you to the Hospital wing. However, I will not allow you to return to Gryffindor tower." Minerva opened the door that had just appeared in front of them. "Inside please." She held the door open for them.

The twins entered the room and looked around. It was a sitting room, much neater than the one at the Burrow and there was curtains of the tartan the McGonagall liked in the three doorways. "All right boys. My spare room is through the door on the left. I'll be with you in a moment." She flicked her wand at the room she'd mentioned, but the Weasleys didn't see anything happen.

McGonagall's spare room was nice enough. There were two single beds, each with a pair of pyjamas identical to the ones used in the Hospital wing. Fred groaned at sat down on one of the beds. "I'm so tired." He mumbled before putting on the pyjamas and getting into bed as his brother did the same.

It didn't seem long before there was a knock on the door frame and two women came into the room. The twins were already nearly asleep. But George felt a diagnostic spell run over him and something was spelled into his stomach and he began to feel much better.

The twins slept for longer than Minerva had planned. It wasn't until the late afternoon of Christmas eve that anything changed. When she went into to check on them and see if they'd awakened, Fred was sitting up in his bed.

"Good afternoon Mr. Weasley." Minerva sat down next to his bed and felt his forehead. "I believe Madame Pomfrey was right. Your fever seems to have broken." She took a thermometer off the table between the two beds and held it in front of the boy's mouth. "Open please."

Fred opened his mouth and let his head of house take his temperature. He'd woken up feeling much better and it had taken him a minute or two to remember when he was and what had happened so far. He waited for McGonagall to take the thermometer back and pulled himself up a little straighter. "How is it?"

McGonagall peered at the glassy stick for a moment. "Normal. If it stays this way then you may return to Gryffindor tower tomorrow afternoon."

Fred nodded, it wouldn't do any good protesting and he was looking forward to returning to the dormitory. "Thanks professor. For taking care of us." He looked across the room, his brother was snoring rather loudly due to his congested nasal passages. "How did the snowmen contest go?"

Minerva smiled. "I think that Professor Flitwick told me, the most interesting design of a cat animagus mid transformation was the winner. It seemed rather. . .right to him. The way the whole thing fit together."

Fred smiled. "We won then. Thank you professor, for everything you've done."

"It's just part of my job, taking care of my little lions." Professor McGonagall stood up and ran her fingers through Fred's hair. "Sleep well little cob of mine." She waited until his eyes were closed before heading back into her sitting room. Only once she was there and away from her students did she allow a small smile to creep onto her face.