I do not own Harry Potter of any characters mentioned in this one shot
It was towards Fred's first year and so far he had shocked everyone in his family, not to mention every single teacher, by not pulling a single prank all year. In fact, those people also said that his stiff and prim demeanor was of his reminiscent uncle Percy.
At this very moment he was remembering the horror that dawned on every teachers face when they heard his name during the sorting ceremony and every time they called his name during attendance. Then his father's owl flew in. Gred Forge was a very fast owl so it was very weird for him to be late for deliveries.
Then Fred saw the reason why.
"Why is your owl carrying such large package?" Rose asked with a puzzled look. It was his cousin Rose Weasley. She was like her mother, she had a lot of respect for the rules but wasn't afraid to break them.
"I have no idea, but knowing dad it can't be good," Fred said cautiously looking at the package as if it was going to explode. That was very rational considering that it had happened before. "I'm still finding feather in the weirdest places from that last package."
"Well, I gotta go. This place is being cleared of for the O.W.Ls soon," Rose shrugged off as she waved good-bye.
A letter was tied to that package so Fred Promptly picked it up and read it.
Dear Son,
Fred rolled his eyes at the fact that he never called him by name.
Today was a very important day in Hogwarts history for everyone who was there when my brother and I dropped out.
He felt like pounding his head on the table. It was the dying shame of every good student during this time that half of the parents had dropped out. Fred was even more ashamed; at least they had a good reason. FEAR. OF. DEATH. But did his dad have a good reason? Noooooooooooooooo. (This rant is coming from his head)
Halfway through the first day of the O.W.Ls please drop this from the 4th floor down the passage that will end right before the great hall. It is in honor of my brother and the times that we had together. Please do this to honor his memory.Love,
Dad.
It was the last two sentences that made him forget every inhibition. With a strong resolve he thought 'I am going to do this' with the determination that a Gryffindor should have, and in the process he shocked himself.
As he left the table all the food cleared leaving the Great Hall as barren as the Sahara Desert.
"Remember the wizard Buffaro who said S' instead of F' and wound up with a buffalo on his chest…Yes Mr. Weasly," Flitwick noticed his hand in the air, but he failed to notice that he was very, very clammy.
"I don't feel very well professor, may I go to the hospital wing?" Fred asked. He said this for two reasons; one was that it must have been believable because he felt like he was going to barf. Which supplied the other part, he was at least telling part of the truth.
"Yes, you may go," Professor Flitwick said with concern written all over his face. "Do feel better."
That made doing this all the harder for Fred. He would throw the trust of every teacher away. Trust that he had worked all year to get. 'Should I do it?' he thought for a second. Two seconds later he snapped out of it.
"Thank you Professor," He said covering his mouth halfway pretending to hold his lunch down.
He left and went straight to Gryffindor tower where he stored the package. Fred's heart raced with both dread and anticipation.
He reached the place his Dad instructed him to go to. When he looked down he saw four floors with a good distance in between them. The Rhythm of the changing staircases along with the adrenalin rush of breaking rules was intoxicating.
The clock suddenly seemed to ring ten times louder in Fred's ear. I was at that moment he knew he had to get it over with, or he would turn back.
As he dropped the package it was as if something else was doing it and he was just the medium for some divine message. It was surreal.
The shock of what happened is what finally broke him out of it. A stench that dung-bombs couldn't rival came soaring through the air at a rate that could rival Uncle Harry's flying.
To top it off he was looking down as it happened.
"IN MY MOUTH!"
You would have to be deaf to not have heard that bellow, and the laughter cam after it seemed even louder.
The laughter didn't come from the teachers or most of the students. It came from one voice that no one had ever heard laugh like that before. It rang through the halls like a bell.
"Mr. Weasley! I never!" Fred turned around in shock to see the pinched and furious face of Headmistress McGonagall. To his own surprise he didn't feel terrified or suddenly guilty. The rush was untouched.
"Explain yourself!" Her voice was bordering on a shriek She looked imposing and fierce in all her tartan glory.
"My Dad told me to do this because of his brother," Fred blurted out.
McGonagall took this in, and to Fred's great surprise she smiled.
"It's about time someone mourned his death the right way," She laughed. "You're excused from punishment."
With that Fred left and went back to charms. Nobody dared to ask about the huge grin on his face, but you can bet Flitwick knew that grin right away.
"I saw that grin on your Father and your late uncle Fred many times before," Professor Flitwick said cautiously. He didn't say anything more.
It was a week after that incident, and McGonagall could look angrier.
"Mr. Weasley, I am willing to accept what you did a week ago," She said with a frustrated tone and the face to match. "But letting a swarm of Cornish Pixies loose in Mr. Filches office without any occasion is simply not acceptable."
"Come on, it's not like he doesn't deserve it," Fred said with a loose air. His entire personality seemed to change over the course of a week.
"That is entirely beside the point," McGonagall said, her voice rising to crescendo. "Why did you do it? A week ago you would have scoffed at the fool who decided to do something like this."
"It was the feeling that I had when let that package go," Fred said airily. "It was the best I'd felt in a long time. I never want to forget that."
"Detention with Filch Mr. Weasley." That had to be the first time Fred ever heard her sound defeated.
As he walked out he could have sworn, no, he did see her crack a smile and heard her say "He is finally being the man I knew he was."
ruler here
George saw a school owl coming towards the second floor north window from the joke shop.
'Maybe he won an award for best grades or good behavior,' George thought to himself trying his best to be proud.
When he walked up to his living quarters on the 2nd floor he found the owl waiting impatently. It went away after he gave it a few treats, which it accepted while looking oddly at him. Parents never gave an owl treats if they brought bad news. They were always too distracted.
George sighed as he opened that letter.
Dear Mr. WeasleyI would like to inform you that your son has set exactly 35 Cornish Pixies loose in the caretakers (Argus Filch) office and partially destroyed the filing cabinets in the process.
He claims to have been inspired by the memorial to your late brother Fred, for whom he is named.
I ask that you please talk to him and PLEASE do not supply him with that particular variety of dungbombs again. We realize that it will be very hard to keep him from all joke supplies in the future considering where his home is located.
Sincerely,
Headmistress McGonagall
To George's credit he waited 5 seconds before letting out a whoop of joy. He knew McGonagall wasn't that naïve, and he knew that she knew he would be proud.
"I have got to tell the family!" George brimmed with pride.
Sitting down he grabbed several pieces of parchment and began to write as fast as humanly possible.
Fred sat down for breakfast at the Great hall. Now he had a considerable amount of new friends and had lost half of the old ones, but that didn't bother him too much. All the teachers now feared him again and that didn't bother him at all.
He looked up as the owl post came in, and too his surprise he saw Gred Forge flying towards him carrying a howler. He thought his dad would be proud of him, so he was a little scared and hurt.
"You better open it mate," warned Remus Jordan, on of Fred's new friends. The son of Lee Jordan, who was deeply inspired by professor Lupin and was inspired even more when he heard that he was one of the infamous marauders.
So he did, and braced himself for the worst.
"YOUR ONE OF US NOW KID!" came the highly amused and proud voices of his Dad, Uncle Harry, Uncle Ron, Aunt Ginny, Aunt Hermione, Mom, Uncle Charlie, and Grandpa Weasly rang through the Great hall catching the attention of every teacher. Fred even heard his Uncle Harry laugh at the end. It was a laugh you could never forget. It rang like a giant baritone bell with a quality that made him sound like he was grateful to laugh.
When he looked up at the teachers table all of them seemed like they were petrified.
'This is the best moment of my life,' Fred thought as he started to laugh as well.
The rhythm of the changing staircases is the thumping that happens when they separate and reconnect with a base.
McGonagall's tartan glory is how she looks when she is wearing the Scottish robes.
The whole grateful to laugh thing is because of the war and growing up with the Dursleys.