"George, honey! Wonderful news! McGonagall wants you to be a prefect!"
Mrs. Weasley bounded into the twin's room clutching a letter in her fist. Fred and George were sitting on their bed after hurriedly hiding some new dangerous experiment upon hearing her call. Now they looked at each other quizzically.
"What are you on about now, mum?" They were just happy she hadn't seemed to notice anything suspicious; it was troublesome to have her constantly throwing away their projects.
"Look, look! A letter from McGonagall! Says she wants you to be a prefect!"
Fred and George looked from her to each other and back to her while she babbled on excitedly.
"She wants to know if you'll except…I told her of course you would, and then I'll just have to write her back…Oh this is wonderful!...You'll be just like Percy!"
"Hey wait, what about me?" Fred asked angrily.
Mrs. Weasley brushed him of in her excitement. "I don't know honey, but you should just be happy for your brother…"
She hopped out the door, chirping something about writing a response and turning over a new leaf, leaving the twins to mull in what she had said.
George looked over at Fred, thinking about what he had said and wanting to show a bright side.
"Look at it this way Freddie, at least we won't get caught so much…not on my watch that is."
"But, you don't actually want to be a prefect, do ya? Be like Percy?! You do realize this is just McGonagall's plan to separate us and try to stop us from getting into so much trouble!" Fred sounded like he was about to be stabbed in the back.
"…I know." George smiled grimly. " But it looks like I don't have much of a choice with mum."
O0o0o0o0
On the first day of their fourth year at Hogwarts, Fred and George hopped up to their room in the Gryphondor common room after a happy evening and dinner with the rest of the school at the ceremony.
Fred flopped down on the closest bed while George looked through their stuff, starting to unpack.
"Um, Fred? Where's my stuff?"
Fred looked up. "Whaddya mean? S'right there…" He was getting a bit slurry from fatigue.
"No. That's your stuff. Mine's not here!"
Just then there was a knock on their door and Professor McGonagall strode in without really waiting for an invitation.
"Mr. Weasley…ah, George…come with me please." She turned to leave.
The twins looked incredulously. "What? We haven't even done anything yet!"
"We've only been here two hours!!"
McGonagall looked back. "No, no. You're not in trouble, but you're a prefect now George, and you don't sleep here anymore. I've already had your things moved in elsewhere; perhaps you've noticed they're missing?"
Then Fred could just watch as his brother was dragged away by McGonagall, and he was left alone in the room.
When Lee and the others made it to the room that night, they didn't understand why George wasn't there and why Fred didn't join in their fun.
Fred didn't sleep well at all that night. Most of the time recently, he and his brother had started sleeping in the same bed, especially when they were troubled or just needed one another. But now, when he really needed his other half, George was not there beside him. In fact, he didn't even know where he was.
It was a miserable first week. Fred hardly ever even saw George except sometimes passing in the halls when he was on prefect duty. Other than that, he never saw his twin and he was shocked to realize how few friends he had other than George that really meant something to him. There weren't many. No one was as close to him as George was and his leaving seemed to have broken Fred's spirit for everything since he left.
It had been almost three weeks now and Fred was wandering the halls during fifth period, having long since lost inertest in classes. His friends had, of course, noticed how down he'd been and Lee, the twins' closest friend, had guessed it was because of George, but he couldn't do anything to help.
Fred wandered around a corner and continued down the deserted hallway. After a while, his troublemaker senses told him someone was coming, but he didn't really care. Besides, there was nowhere to hide. He looked up into a mirror of his face and for a crazy, split second, he thought George would get him in trouble for being out of class. Of course not, he realized, his twin wouldn't have changed that much!
Fred looked up into George's eyes and immediately felt a flood of happiness to see his own emotions mirrored there.
"Fred…"
"George…umm…"
After all this time, there was an awkward silence between them that never would have developed before.
But after all this time of being alone and never seeing his twin, Fred wasn't about to let this opportunity go.
He leapt into his brother's arms and held him as tight as he dared, so tight he'd never be able to slip away again.
"George…my god, have you missed me even slightly as much as I've missed you?"
George didn't answer at first and Fred pulled away to look at him. George's eye's were shut and Fred was surprised to see wet tears running down his face, falling off as he nodded to Fred's question, unable speak. Fred smiled and hugged him again. He was never one for being speechless.
"I was like half a person without you. I couldn't do anything. And I couldn't sleep."
George sniffed into his brother's shoulder. "I love you Freddie…I don't want to do this anymore…"
"Then you won't! You'll quit today and I'll get you're stuff. And you'll sleep with me tonight, right Georgie?"
George nodded again as Fred kissed the tear from his cheek.
O0o0o0o
The very next morning was ushered in by a loud crash in the Gryphondor hall and two twins who came running full tilt down the stone steps into the dining hall. They laughed and sat down beside Harry and Ron, half hiding behind them as Professor McGonagall stormed down the very same stone steps and turned her ferocious gaze around the hall. Fred and George were now at this point fully under the table, and McGonagall left with a frustrated sigh, muttering something about how her plan had almost worked.
Fred and George gave way to snickers as Lee joined them at the table.
"Well, glad to know you two are back to normal."