A/N: Part one of a two shot I've been working on for a while which literally just crossed my mind and I had to get it down. Please do review and leave me some feedback or criticisms or whatever. Reviews make the world go round.
Disclaimer: I own the characters which are so obviously not in Harry Potter but sadly, Fred Weasley is all JK Rowling's. Lucky woman.
"I love you."
Those three words. Those three simple words hold so much power. Those words have the power to change the world. The words that flood warmth through a person. The words every girl dies to hear from their one true love.
But those same three words were enough to make bile rise in the throat of a certain brunette, threatening the return of her rather large breakfast.
"Umm, that's nice? Oh would you look at the time, I really need to start on my charms homework bye!" Anna couldn't have ran away from the pesky blonde haired pretty boy any faster.
Anna Whitmore had been dating Jack something-or-other for a week now. One week. During the week, he had showered her in pointless gifts, wrote her several poems, colour coordinated their clothes to their first Hogsmeade date, commented on her bad habits and criticised her posture. Why she was going out with him, she couldn't recall. It was probably his piercing green eyes. Or his silky smooth blonde curls that bounced every time he moved. Probably his chivalry and how he'd always hold the door open for her with a shy smile.
Well, whatever it was, she sincerely regretted agreeing to going out with him.
She had planned to spend her Friday night with Jack, and if he was still the same ostentatious prat she had agreed to date, she was going to dump him. Simple.
And then he said the dreaded three words. After one bloody week.
Anna sighed as she practically ran through the castle to the Hufflepuff common room. She had left her friends after dinner as Jack asked her to a walk around the lake. It had been rather boring: he smouldered on about getting two marks wrong on a transfiguration essay as she leant against a tree observing her nails and waist length chocolate brown hair that now adopted split ends (she mentally planned to visit the Hairdressing Salon opposite Honeydukes for her next Hogsmeade trip). He must have noticed her lack of attention as he then proceeded to take her hands in his and blurt his undying love for her. It hadn't had the expected result as she didn't cry in joy and jump into his arms, declaring her love for him back.
All in all, it was one of her worst dates ever.
As she rounded the corner to her common room in the dark, she yelped in surprise as she came face to face with a blinding light.
"Oops, sorry darling, didn't see you there," a deep voice snickered.
"What the bloody hell are you doing? Wait, you're not a Hufflepuff," Anna said as she stared at the red head in front of her, eyeing the tie he adorned with the Gryffindor colours, holding his wand outstretched in his hand.
"Freds, why have you stopped?" came a voice from behind the red head.
"Bumped into some bird Georgie. Don't worry love, we'll be on our way now, so sorry to disturb your late night stroll," Fred said as he was joined by an identical red head.
"Why hello there, sorry for my idiot of a brother, he's a bit of a, well, an idiot. I'm George," smiled the second red head, stretching out his hand only to be smacked on the back of his head for his comment by his brother. Anna only stared at his hand then turned to glance suspiciously between the two twins. She didn't need to be introduced to them; everyone knew the infamous Weasley twins.
"What are you doing down here?" she asked again, crossing her arms over her chest as George retracted his hand.
"Now, now then, we thought you Hufflepuff's were all sweethearts, looks like were seriously wrong Georgie, this one's a wee bit fiery."
"Too right Freddo, too right. Sounds more like a Gryffindor to me."
"A bit like Angelina I see. Oh well, everyone's a bit different now and then."
"Hello! I'm still here boys. And you still haven't answered my question." Anna said frustrated at the two boys conversing to each other as if she wasn't there.
"Sorry love, we were on our way back to our common room from the kitchens. Nothing says Friday night like food, butterbeer and exploding snap," the one she thought was Fred replied. It was only then she noticed the boys carrying boxes filled with food and butterbeer.
"And we are now officially six minutes late. Come on Fred, let's go before Filch comes looking," George began to walk away just as several loud bangs were heard. Fred winked at her and patted her back before following his brother to the Gryffindor common room.
As she saw the retreating figures of the twins, she noticed a third figure coming her way. Her eyes widened as she recalled leaving Jack alone. With an audible groan she ran through the common room after tapping the barrel and sprinted to her dorm where she was attacked by her friends.
"Anna! What happened? You were gone for ages."
"Did you dump him? Did he cry?"
"Did he serenade you with another sonnet? Or was it a haiku this time?"
"Guys will you please for the love of Helga just stop-OW! Lauren why did you do that?" Anna yelled, trying to calm down her friends only to be kicked in the bum by her small brunette friend. She began rubbing her throbbing arse as she glared down at the innocent looking girl. The barrage of noise, which she barely made much sense of, had induced the beginning of a headache in her.
"The note told me to," she simply shrugged.
"What bloody note?" Anna asked, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion as she changed out of her uniform and into her pyjamas as quickly as possible to escape the chilly air from nipping at her exposed skin.
Lauren grabbed Anna's school jumper and peeled of a sticky parchment.
"This note," Lauren held up the parchment where the words kick my big round smelly arse were scrawled messily. All the girls began laughing violently, falling on the floor and beds with tears escaping their eyes. Anna was fuming.
"Weasley," she gritted through her teeth.
In an instant the girls seemed to stand to attention and sat up staring expectantly to their silently raging friend.
"Weasley?" Lauren asked.
"Fred," Anna managed to seethe.
"The Fred Weasley pranked you?" Anna's other friend, Willow asked with her eyes bugging out.
"Oh Merlin. Poor Fred, doesn't know what he's got himself into," said the girl who had not yet spoken, Flo.
"Anna, what are you thinking?" Lauren asked apprehensively upon seeing the devious look on her face.
"Oh nothing," she replied sweetly as she climbed under her covers and fluffed her pillows generously.
A few moments of silence passed where the girls looked to each other, wondering what monstrous thoughts could be swimming through their deviant friend's mind.
"Did he smell good?" Flo asked offhandedly, breaking the lingering quietness.
"What?" Anna snapped her head to her bubbly friend, obviously startled by the question.
"I heard he smells really nice. Is it true then?"
"Er, I guess. I don't know, I wasn't really trying to smell him."
"He's quite the looker though isn't he? George as well of course," Willow smiled dreamily.
"You girls are off your rockers. I'm off to bed, big day in Hogsmeade tomorrow, night," Anna yawned before falling into a deep sleep, dreaming of bright colours, big bangs and dungbombs.
The girls made their way through Hogsmeade the next day, discussing the morning's events. Anna's morning had been rather traumatising as Jack sat next to her at breakfast and began whispering a cheesy new poem (she could've sworn it was a limerick this time) into her ear as she tried to stuff pancakes into her mouth. After getting no reaction out of her, besides her completely ignoring his existence, he snaked his arm around her waist and whispered the dreaded three words to her again. This had gotten a reaction out of her, just not what he had anticipated. She had choked on the pancakes lodged in her throat and dumped him there and then in a fit of furious rage. To say he was upset is a bit of an understatement. She was sure he substituted his trip to Hogsmeade to stay in his dorm and cry. What a pansy. Anna wasn't worried though, she had other more important things on her mind.
Throughout the morning she had formulated a plan to get her revenge on Fred Weasley. Unfortunately for her, Lauren had placed the sticky parchment on the back of her cardigan, resulting in many people – mainly boys – smacking and kicking her bum to no end. Once she had found out, Lauren was attacked by enchanted water balloons, soaking her to the bone. Needless to say she was not impressed when her frizzy hair mutated into a mane and wouldn't budge no matter how hard she tried.
As the girls walked to Honeydukes, Anna had noticed two identical red heads walking out of Zonkos, arms carrying bags filled with weird and wonderful contraptions. She smirked to herself. Time for phase one. Whispering her farewell to the girls, she walked across the street, purposely bumping into one of the twins.
"Sorry I didn't see you there-oh. It's you again. Hello there love," the red head she bumped into grinned.
"Hi. Which one are you?" he laughed at her bluntness. Before he could respond his brother had approached them and swung his arm around her shoulders.
"Hello there again love, that's Georgie. Did you enjoy my little gift?" Fred grinned cheekily down at her.
"I don't think enjoyed is the appropriate word. I couldn't sit down for breakfast without bruising myself even more," she scowled in return.
"Aww you poor baby," Fred mock pouted as his hand slowly edged down to rub her bum, smirking as he noticed the slight blush creeping up her cheeks, "that better love?"
"I'll have you know that I have a massage booked later with a certain mister Davies to help with this soreness, so feel free to remove your hand, love."
George laughed at the haughtiness of Anna.
"My hand rather likes it here actually. If you want you can swap masseuses and see me later," Fred winked. George had stuck his finger in his mouth and gagged before running off to Lee, one of his Gryffindor friends.
"As much as I'd love that, I promised Davies he'd be seeing me later. And I'm not one to break promises. I need to go now. Goodbye Fred," Anna removed herself from Fred and leaned up to kiss his cheek. She peeked from the corner of her eye to see her friends running into Honeydukes. Go time. She turned swiftly and began walk over to her friends.
"I didn't catch your name!" she heard Fred shout from behind her.
"Anna," she yelled back without turning around, smiling to herself.
Anna walked into wonderful sweet shop – her favourite shop in the whole of Hogsmeade – and peered out the windows with the girls, hiding discreetly in the shadows. She spied Fred and George standing idly with Lee before they began walking further down the road. Willow giggled in anticipation while Flo gripped the girls' arms eagerly. Anna grabbed her wand and pointed it near the boys. Just a few more steps…
BANG
Anna flicked her wand and began shooting firecrackers all around the boys' feet. The girls laughed as the boys jumped around the firecrackers, doing a dance that resembled an Irish jig. A crowd soon began to form around them, now hopping around and flailing their arms, and they all doubled over in hysterics. After a few minutes of continuous firecrackers, they stopped instantly. The trio were cowering behind their arms and slowly peeked through them, waiting for another onslaught. Certain they weren't going to be attacked, they removed their arms from their faces and looked around the street, all sharing bewildered expressions.
Of course, this was not all Anna had up her sleeve. She waited for the boys to let their guards down again. As they picked up their bags that they'd dropped, the girls sneaked out of Honeydukes and hid behind a big tree nearby. Anna glanced around the thick body of wood and with another flick of her wand, enchanted paint balloons to splatter the boys. Willow and Flo had set up the paint balloons all around Hogsmeade so wherever the boys went, a balloon would burst and spray them all in bright colours. Instead of the boys seething in rage, they snorted at each other's paint covered bodies, Lee mocking the clash between the lime green paint and the twins' red hair while the Weasley twins taunted the pink paint mismatched against Lee's dark skin and dreadlocks. They rather proudly strolled through Hogsmeade covered in the fluorescent colours, grinning at everyone who pointed at them.
The finale of Anna's revenge was to take place in the Great Hall. After enjoying the rest of their afternoon in The Three Broomsticks over butterbeer (and after Anna's much needed trim), the girls gleefully made their way back to the castle. Lauren had steered clear of Anna in fear of being ambushed again whereas Willow couldn't get enough of the pranking thus proceeded to eagerly discuss the rest of the plan in hushed whispers with Anna.
The Hufflepuff common room was fairly empty as everyone had left to fill their stomachs with the lavish dinner. Once discarding their bags in their dorm, the girls made their way gleefully to the Great Hall, awaiting the presence of the Weasley twins.
Playing with the food on her plate, Anna kept scrutinising the doors from the corner of her eye, keeping an eye out for the famous, bright red hair adopted by all the Weasley children. She had noticed Ron and Ginny already at the Gryffindor table so was sure the next pair of gingers to enter the Great Hall would definitely be the twins.
Anticipation and excitement swallowed her whole; it had been ages since she'd last played a prank as extravagant as this, and never before had she dared to outsmart the masterminds of pranking themselves. The thought that they were incredibly experienced in the arts of pranking (although she would never in a million years admit this to them) bought butterflies to her stomach as doubts began swimming in her mind as to whether the prank would work or not. Her friends had reassured her that it would most likely turn out in her favour. Most of her pranks weren't fuelled by magic; her inspiration came from muggle tricks and pranks, which gave her an advantage to pranking in the wizarding world.
Pain in her ribs aroused Anna from her daze as she turned to see the identical gingers in question just outside the doors of the Great Hall. All the girls turned to wink and smile and her, urging her on for the final phase of her plan. She turned to a fellow Hufflepuff opposite her and caught his eye. With a sharp nod, the boy grabbed a handful of a gloopy substance from the table and flung it towards the twins as they entered the Great Hall.
Whispers from gossiping girls seemed to hush promptly. The playful banter between friends, the gushes of the still excitable first years in awe of their surroundings, everything was drowned out by the thumping heart beat in Anna's ears. Her breathing had suddenly become laboured; her lungs forcing the air as if it was a chore. Time seemed to slow down and she watched in great eagerness as the food flew across the Hall, smacking the twins – mainly Fred – right in the face.
More blobs of the gloopy substance were thrown at the surprised red heads, who were shocked into stillness, covering almost every inch of their bodies. Before the Professor's had a chance to scold the attackers, Anna flicked her wand with a barely audible incantation. Dungbombs surrounding the boys were let off, triggering the net hanging above the boys to snap, allowing hundreds of feathers to gracefully fall and coat the boys. Roger Davies, from the Ravenclaw table, caught Anna's eye and winked. She was far too fixated on the twins' expressions to comprehend Davies waving his wand towards the roast chickens on each table, causing them to jump up onto their bony legs.
Everyone froze. No movement or sound was made. All eyes were stuck on the twins, staring down at themselves and then to each other. The repulsive smell from the dungbombs weren't enough to make the students cringe and run away in terror. Not even the professors knew what to do, for their usual culprits were now the victims, and they knew not who to blame for this sudden act. They stood and sat shell shocked around their table, gaping at the scene displayed in front of them. Hell even Dumbledore looked shocked, although there was a ghost of a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. The roast chickens stood still on the tables, waiting for something to happen for them to begin their duty.
"We're chickens!" the twins shouted simultaneously.
And then chaos ensued.
The twins jumped up onto a table each, George on the Ravenclaw and Fred on the Gryffindor, and began clucking like chickens. They bent their hands underneath their armpits and flapped their elbows, bobbing their heads back and forward as a chicken would. The roast chickens took this as their cue to begin dancing as well. They jumped, and twirled, and pirouetted. Ron kept charging to grab a chicken drumstick and sat back in frustration every time it leapt out of his reach. The students roared in laughter and cheered the twins on. Several students also joined the twins on the tables and flailed their arms wildly to get in on the show. The only table clear of dancing students was the Slytherin, although some students were laughing and smiling as they took in the sporadic sight.
Laughter escaped Anna's lips as she and her friends high fived each other and enveloped her in a massive hug. Fred and George continued hopping between tables dancing with the roast chickens. The ghosts scattered around the Great Hall either sneered at the twins or applauded in joy and flew around them.
Fred jumped onto the Hufflepuff table and clucked his way down to Anna's seat where he stood in front of her. She slowly raked her eyes over his body covered in feathers until she reached his face. He stared down at her with a goofy grin and winked at her before making his way further down the table.
Blood rushed to her cheeks. He knew. Anna was hoping the prank would go by without the twins suspecting her but the tiny gesture from Fred alerted her. Were they going to get her back? And how? They obviously didn't hate her otherwise their humorous attempt to comply with the prank wouldn't have occurred.
Anna was thrust out of her internal worrying as Willow grabbed her hand and pulled her up on the table with her. Within seconds their arms were linked and they were skipping around in circles, swapping dancing partners every few turns as many other students were doing. The professors were trying valiantly to restore order to their houses but everyone was in hysterics that the shouting had fallen on deaf ears. Anna turned to Dumbledore, who remained seated and laughed joyously at the students. He turned his gaze to Anna and away again. She could've sworn he winked at her, but it happened so fast she believed it to be her eyes deceiving her.
A firm arm twirled Anna around, and instead of swapping partners, linked their other arm with her and began skipping in the other direction. Her hair had gone askew and she was sure her face was as red as a tomato due to all the dancing. She looked up to see her dance partner once they had stopped and came face to face with none other than Fred Weasley, whose face now matched his dishevelled red hair. He was grinning wildly, feathers sticking out of his hair. Most of the feathers had fallen off his body as he had been jumping all around.
He leaned down next to her ear. "That was bloody fantastic," he whispered, his breath leaving Anna frozen as goose bumps formed over her neck.
"Glad you think so. Maybe now you'll think twice before you mess with me," she whispered back, leaning back slightly so she could look into his eyes. He gazed down at her, his grin not once faltering.
"Never," Fred smirked.
"Silence!" a booming voice echoed in the Great Hall, silencing all the students and stilling everyone's movements. "You have had a very fun and pleasant evening, and now I shall bid you all goodnight. I warn you though, this is not to occur again. Get cleaned up and go to bed. Mr Weasley's, a word if you please."
In an instant the students all clamoured out of the Great Hall and made their way to their respected common rooms, chatting excitedly to each other about the wondrous display they had all just witnessed. Anna and Fred remained on the table, staring at each other.
Fred lifted a hand and gently grazed his knuckle down her cheek. Her breathing hitched in her throat and suddenly found it hard to breathe or think. Her eyes trailed over his face, taking in his features, not realising he was mimicking her actions. The arrival of George clamping his hand on Fred's shoulder caused them both to jump apart from each other. Anna looked around her table and noticed all her friends had left her. She scowled and turned back to the twins.
"Well Anna, we'll see you tomorrow love," George grinned. Both the twins winked simultaneously and jumped off the table and swaggered to Dumbledore's office where the headmaster had departed to moments ago, the remaining feathers drifting off them.
With a smirk, Anna flicked her wand one more time. George had stopped near the doors to the Great Hall. Fred, noticing his twin's absence, halted in his steps and turned to face his twin, an expression of pure horror etched onto his face. Both red heads turned to face Anna as they both groaned concurrently, and eggs fell to the floor. Anna burst out laughing upon seeing the boys resembling chickens and releasing egg after egg. Soon after the boys cracked, and they too began laughing.